UKRAINE, KHARKIV, Apr. 3 — Over the past two days of attacks, Russian troops launched 37 airstrikes at 18 locations in Kharkiv, said the city mayor, Ihor Terekhov.

Terekhov called the latest series of Russian attacks on Kharkiv “the hardest since the beginning of the year.” He said that the amount of emergency repairs that have to be completed is huge because the attack damaged over 500 windows in 25 apartment buildings and three non-residential buildings.

On Apr. 2, Russian forces used Geran-3 jet-powered drones against Kharkiv for the first time, said the mayor.

Bohdan Hladkykh, head of the Kharkiv City Council’s Emergency Situations Department, told Gwara Media that such a Russian drone could make the distance from the border to Kharkiv, which is 23 kilometers (~14.3 miles), in just 70 seconds.

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.

Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, told Gwara Media that Russians launched over 10 jet-powered drones at Kharkiv over the day.

Terekhov said that they recorded the biggest number of Russian attacks in the Kyivskyi district of the city. There, a Russian drone hit an apartment building, injuring two women.

On Apr. 3, debris from a Russian drone fell in the Shevchenkivskyi district, killing one and injuring seven people.

Syniehubov noted to journalists that the explosion occurred in the middle of one of the streets in the city center, injuring people in cars. He also said that the attack damaged a hospital nearby.

Damaged car after Russian attack on Kharkiv
Damaged car after Russian attack on Kharkiv on April. 3 / Photo: Gwara Media, Miia Kliushnykova
Damaged car after Russian attack on Kharkiv
Damaged car after Russian attack on Kharkiv on April. 3 / Photo: Gwara Media, Miia Kliushnykova
Firefighters are extinguishing burning cars after Russian attack on Kharkiv
Firefighters are extinguishing burning cars after Russian attack on Kharkiv on Apr. 3 / Photo: Gwara Media, Miia Kliushnykova

Over the past few days, Russians also attacked the Osnovianskyi district, injuring a man.

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.