Ukrainian officials said Thursday that a Russian drone attack overnight killed at least four people and injured 12 others in the eastern city of Kharkiv.
Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said drones hit several residential buildings. The attack also cut power to 350,000 residents.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack “despicable and cynical” in a statement on the social media platform X.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said commanders had discussed defending Kharkiv “specifically in terms of air defense.”
He also said it was a “task for all our diplomats” to encourage Ukraine’s partners to provide Kyiv with better defense systems.
Members of the NATO alliance on Thursday agreed to look through their inventories for more air defense systems to send to Ukraine. The members didn’t, however, make any specific commitments.
“Allies will now go back and look into their inventories, look into if there are any ways they can provide more systems,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at a news conference.
Oleg Sinegubov, regional governor in Kharkiv, said Russian attacks also hit the cities of Lozova and Chuhuiv.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that it thwarted Ukrainian drone attacks targeting two regions in western Russia.
The Russian ministry said its air defenses shot down three drones over Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, as well as two drones over the Tula region.
A fire broke out, however, near the central market in the southern Russian city of Kursk on Thursday after air defense units shot down a drone, Kursk Governor Roman Starovoit said. It was one of four drones intercepted over the region, he added in a post on Telegram.
Pact with Finland
On Wednesday, Ukraine and Finland signed a 10-year security pact.
The agreement makes Finland the eighth NATO member this year to agree to long-term security and defense backing for Ukraine in its fight against Russian invaders.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb said his country would also send $203 million in additional military aid to Ukraine, including air defense systems and heavy-caliber ammunition. That sum took Finland's overall defense contribution to nearly $2.2 billion during the war.
"We are not giving this military support only for Ukraine to defend itself, we are giving this military support for Ukraine to win this war," Stubb said at a news conference with Zelenskyy.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
