A Russian drone strike has tragically claimed the lives of five people in Pryluky, located in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region. Among the deceased were three members of a single family—a first responder’s wife, their daughter, and a one‑year‑old grandson—Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported. The strike involved six drones and injured six more people who were hospitalized following the attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fiercely condemned the attack, accusing Moscow of “constantly trying to buy time for itself to continue killing. When it does not feel strong enough condemnation and pressure from the world – it kills again,” he wrote on X. The president detailed that Russia launched a total of 103 drones and one ballistic missile overnight, targeting regions across Ukraine including Donetsk, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy, Chernihiv, Dnipro, and Kherson.
In Kharkiv, the assault injured 18 people, including four children. One resident, Anastasiia Meleshchenk, escaped harm alongside her child when a drone crashed into her neighbor’s apartment. “Yesterday, workers had just finished repair work in my apartment after the previous attack,” she said, reflecting on recent strikes.
No official statement has yet come from Moscow. However, Ukrainian officials later revealed that two more people died in a Russian hit on a military training ground in Poltava the previous day. “Doctors unfortunately failed to save the lives of two people who were wounded as a result of an enemy attack on the training ground,” said senior regional official Volodymyr Kohut on Telegram.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military stated it had damaged missile sites in Russia’s Bryansk region, facilities reportedly prepared to launch attacks on Ukraine. This came after Ukraine’s recent “Spider’s Web” operation, in which 117 UAVs struck four Russian airbases across Siberia and the far north. Russia claimed that the attack had also destroyed rail bridges in the country’s south, resulting in seven fatalities.
The Kremlin responded through spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, saying that Russia “will respond to the attacks as and when its military sees fit.” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov added that the damaged warplanes would be restored. According to two U.S. officials, up to 20 aircraft may have been hit, with about 10 destroyed, though these figures remain unconfirmed.
Despite peace talks held recently in Turkiye, hostilities have intensified. Al Jazeera’s John Hendren in Kyiv reported that the U.S. embassy has warned American citizens to expect major strikes. In related developments, former U.S. President Donald Trump, after speaking with Vladimir Putin, stated that “Putin was going to have to retaliate for the strikes on Russian airfields.”
