Russia launched a wave of overnight airstrikes on Ukraine for the second night in a row, culminating in at least nine deaths and dozens of injuries. On Saturday, June 7, at least four people were killed and more than two dozen injured in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. Overnight strikes a day prior killed at least six civilians and wounded more than 70, including four fatalities in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said that as of around 8 p.m. local time Saturday, “more than four dozen victims” had been identified, adding, “Russia must face full isolation and new severe sanctions.”
Overnight strikes hit Kharkiv, suburban Moscow
According to reporting from The Associated Press, a large Russian drone-and-missile attack killed at least three people and wounded 21 others in Kharkiv during the early morning hours Saturday. Later that afternoon, aerial bombs fell over the city’s center, killing at least one more person and wounding an additional five. Those strikes, according to Kharkiv’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, were the “most powerful attack” on the city since the start of the war more than three years ago.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Ukraine also launched overnight strikes into Russian cities in the south and west. Russia’s defense ministry said it shot down 36 drones, the debris of which wounded two civilians in Moscow’s suburbs.
Saturday’s attack saw 215 missiles and drones launched into Ukraine, with the country’s air defenses intercepting 94 of the projectiles. The attack extended beyond Kharkiv and into Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and the city of Ternopil.
This came after Russian forces launched one of their largest coordinated air assaults of the war overnight on Friday, killing at least five civilians and injuring more than 70 across multiple regions of Ukraine. Three emergency workers died while responding to fires triggered by the attack, according to city officials and Ukraine’s Interior Ministry.
“To put an end to Russia’s killing and destruction, more pressure on Moscow is required, as are more steps to strengthen Ukraine,” Sybiha posted to X earlier Saturday.
While Kharkiv’s mayor accused Moscow of hitting 18 apartment buildings and 13 homes during its airstrikes, the Russian Defense Ministry stopped short of commenting on the civilian casualties and said Saturday that it only hit military targets, including ammunition depots, drone assembly workshops and weaponry repair shops.
Among the victims that Kharkiv’s regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov, blamed on Russian airstrikes were two children, identified as a baby boy and a 14-year-old girl, both of whom were wounded. Another six people are reportedly trapped under a collapsed industrial facility.
Peace talks undermined by continued fighting
The strikes come as Ukraine and Russia have been engaged in high-level peace negotiations, led by the U.S. However, given the escalation in fighting, an imminent truce seems unlikely. Part of the agreement was a swap of some 6,000 dead soldiers between the two sides, which was agreed to during peace talks in Istanbul on Monday, June 2.
However, on Saturday, Russia’s delegation head, Vladimir Medinsky, accused Kyiv of calling off the swap at the last minute. In a post on X, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote, “We call on Kiev to strictly adhere to the agreements reached in Istanbul, and to start the POWs exchange process right away.”
In a follow-up post, the agency wrote, “We urge the Ukrainian side to collect the bodies of 6000 soldiers and officers so that they may be buried with dignity by their families. We — the Russian contact group — remain on-site, fully prepared to proceed [as agreed in Istanbul].”
Kyiv responded by saying that Russia was playing “dirty games” and manipulating facts, adding that no date had been agreed upon for the swap, according to the AP. Ukraine also said that Russia provided a prisoner of war list that did not align with the agreement reached in Istanbul.
Moscow later acknowledged that Ukraine had not “confirmed the exchange today and has postponed it for an undetermined period.” That post was accompanied by a video of refrigerated trucks transporting the bodies of some 1,200 dead Ukrainian troops.
