LONDON — Ukrainian authorities said at least 19 people were injured and 41 buildings damaged by a Russian missile strike in the northeastern city of Kharkiv overnight Monday, as Moscow’s troops launched a new offensive in the region and claimed battlefield gains all along the Eastern Front.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram that the impact of the S-400 anti-aircraft missile in Kharkiv was part of a multi-pronged barrage against Ukrainian cities overnight. Kyiv, Odessa and Zaporozhye were also targeted.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched 145 drones, of which 71 were shot down and 71 lost in flight. A drone flew over Belarusian airspace, the Air Force said.
The Russian Defense Ministry, for its part, claimed to have shot down 23 Ukrainian drones in several regions.
A police officer stands at the site of apartment buildings hit by a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, November 25, 2024.
Vyacheslav Madievskiy/Reuters
Vladislav Shapsha, governor of Kaluga Oblast, which borders Moscow Oblast to the southwest, said falling drone debris sparked a fire at a manufacturing plant in the region.
“In total, since last night, Russia has used about a hundred attack drones, aerial bombs and missiles against more than ten of our regions,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram early Monday.
“These attacks by Russia on the lives of Ukrainians can be stopped,” he added. “With pressure, sanctions, blocking the occupiers’ access to the components they use to create the tools of this terror, arms packages for Ukraine and a determination that must be unwavering.”
Just 30 km from the Russian border, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s “second city”, has faced near-constant attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in early 2022.
Russian forces failed to encircle and capture Kharkiv during the first weeks of the invasion, but fighting continued along the shared border throughout the conflict.
Ukraine’s General Staff said in a Facebook post on Monday that Russian forces launched attacks on the settlement of Kozacha Lopan, about 3 kilometers from the border and 26 kilometers north of Kharkiv.
Ukrainian military blogger Deep State Telegram reported that Russian forces also launched an amphibious operation across the Oskil River in the eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian troops pushed towards the strategic objective of Kupyansk.
The Russian force gained a foothold on the Ukrainian-controlled side of the waterway, Deep State wrote. The blogger’s claims could not immediately be verified.
