Russian drone attacks kill three, wound 60 in Ukraine's Kharkiv
Russian drone strikes have killed three people and wounded 60, including children, in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, officials say.
The city, just 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the Russian border, bore the brunt of Russia's latest aerial assault early on Wednesday, with 17 drones striking two residential areas, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
'Those are ordinary sites of peaceful life … that should never be targeted,' he wrote on Telegram.
Among the 60 wounded in the attacks were nine children aged between 2 and 15, according to Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov.
One Kharkiv resident, Olena Khoruzheva, told the AFP news agency how she had run with her two children away from the windows of her building when she heard the drones approach.
'The younger one lay on the floor, hands on his head. I was on top of him,' the 41-year-old pharmacist said.
'We heard it approaching. Silence, and then we were thrown against the wall … there were more explosions, then we heard people shouting 'Help! Help!''
Her 65-year-old neighbour was killed in the attack, she said.
The assault left emergency crews, city workers and volunteers scrambling through the night to rescue people from burning buildings and restore essential services in the city, which has been frequently targeted in recent months, The Associated Press news agency reported.
'We stand strong. We help one another. And we will endure,' the city's mayor wrote on Telegram.
The strikes on Kharkiv were part of a wave of 85 drones deployed by Russia overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said, adding that its air defence systems had intercepted 40.
The latest assault followed much larger Russian drone and missile attacks in the previous days, in retaliation from Moscow for an audacious Ukrainian drone operation, codenamed 'Spiderweb', that knocked out aircraft stationed at military bases on Russian soil.
Moscow sent a record bombardment of almost 500 drones overnight on Monday, followed by a wave of 315 drones and seven missiles the following night.
Kyiv has sent its own drones in response, with Moscow's Ministry of Defence saying 32 Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight, the AFP news agency reported.
The exchange of aerial attacks has continued even as both sides have participated in recent days in prisoner exchanges agreed to in talks in Istanbul earlier this month.
The exchanges began on Monday and continued on Tuesday, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posting footage of emotional reunions as shaven-headed prisoners stepped off a bus and draped themselves in Ukrainian flags.Two rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine have failed to yield a breakthrough in agreeing to a ceasefire and ending the war.
In recent days, Zelenskyy has urged Ukraine's Western allies to ramp up pressure and take action against Russia, arguing that the Kremlin's aggression shows it has no interest in a ceasefire.
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