Russia attacks Kharkiv at least 11 times, use jet-powered kamikaze drones capable of reaching Kharkiv from border in 70 second (Photos)

UKRAINE, KHARKIV, Apr. 2 — Over the day, Russian forces attacked Kharkiv at least 11 times with drones, targeting Kyivskyi district of the city, reported the Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov.

According to Terekhov, most of the Russian drones were jet-powered, and the Russians used them against Kharkiv for the first time. The Kharkiv regional Prosecutor’s Office confirmed this information to Gwara. Authorities also say Russia uses the Geran-3 model, a new modification of Moscow-adapted Iranian Shaheds. 

Russians started the attack with jet-powered drones on the night of Apr. 2 and continued it throughout the day. As for the afternoon, the mayor said that the air defense recorded another Russian drone that could attack the city again.

Russians attacked six locations in the Kyivskyi district. First, the drones struck a civilian business building, causing a massive fire. Then the Russians launched a second attack on the rescue workers who were putting out the fire, said Bohdan Hladkykh, head of the Kharkiv City Council’s Emergency Situations Department, to Gwara Media.

Hladkykh said that, on Apr. 2,the air defense recorded a Russian drone near the Russia-Ukraine border, and just in 70 seconds it reached Khakriv, which is 23 kilometers (~14.3 miles) from the border.

He also said that jet-powered drones are equipped with the same charge as a usual Shahed, approximately 50 kilograms of explosives. But, as they travel at speeds exceeding 300 km/h (~186 miles/hour), the consequences of an attack could be devastating.

The damaged facade of an apartment building after Russian attack on Kharkiv on April. 2 / Photo: Gwara Media, Miia Kliushnykova

At nearly 2:20 p.m., one of the Russian jet-powered drones, previously Geran-3 type, hit an apartment building in the Kyivskyi district of Kharkiv, reported the Kharkiv regional Prosecutor’s Office.

The attack injured two women aged 61 and 52 years old.

A firefighter puts out a fire after a Russian attack on Kharkiv ob Apr. 2 / Photo: Gwara Media, Miia Kliushnykova

Damaged room in the apartment building after the Russian attack on Kharkiv on Apr. 2 / Photo: Gwara Media, Miia Kliushnykova

“I was in my apartment, sleeping. I heard a loud whistling sound, jumped up, grabbed my dog, and, luckily, we hid behind a wall. There was glass everywhere, and the windows were destroyed. Debris was in the walls, in the ceiling — everywhere,” said Yulia, one of the residents of the damaged apartment building, to Gwara Media’s journalists working on the hit site.

The damaged apartment building after Russian attack on Kharkiv on April. 2 / Photo: Gwara Media, Miia Kliushnykova

On Apr. 1, Russians also attacked an apartment building in the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kharkiv, injuring two women aged 68 and 89 years old.

Read more

• Russian attacks have damaged over 30 water supply objects in Kharkiv oblast over past three months

⚡ The fifth year of the Russian full-scale invasion started, so it’s been four years since most of us here at our Kharkiv-based newsroom became war reporters. Please consider supporting our journalism via a one-time donation — or join our community.