KYIV: Russian forces launched powerful glide bombs and drones against Ukraine’s second-largest city in overnight attacks, hitting a hospital and wounding seven people, an official said Tuesday, as European military aid for Kyiv dropped sharply and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepared to ask US President Donald Trump for Tomahawk missiles.
The Russian attack on Kharkiv in Ukraine’s northeast hit the city’s main hospital, forcing the evacuation of 50 patients, regional head Oleh Syniehubov said. The attack’s main targets were energy facilities, Zelensky said, without providing details of what was hit.
“Every day, every night, Russia strikes power plants, power lines, and our (natural) gas facilities,” Zelensky said on Telegram.
Russian long-range strikes on its neighbor’s power grid are part of a campaign since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022 to disable Ukraine’s power supply, denying civilians heat and running water during the bitter winter.
The Ukrainian leader urged foreign countries to help blunt Russia’s long-range attacks by providing more air defense systems for the country, which is almost the size of Texas and hard to defend from the air in its entirety.
