A Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv has damaged a maternity hospital, authorities say, terrifying fleeing patients as windows shattered and shards of glass fell on to the beds, leaving families rushing to shelter their babies.
Three women and three newborns suffered acute stress and received medical help, according to Kharkiv's regional prosecutors.
Oleksandra Lavrynenko was at the hospital after just giving birth.
"We woke up and heard a very loud whistle. My husband and I got up and quickly went to our little one, and at that moment there was a hit and the windows shattered," she said.
They rushed to shelter one-day-old Maksym underground.
"It was very scary, because I was so full of adrenaline that I probably forgot that I had stitches. Now I am slowly recovering from the shock," Lavrynenko said, laying next to her son.
Shards of glass littered the medical facility's floors and beds and patients and staff prepared to evacuate.
Oleksandr Kondriatskyi, one of the doctors, said the attack damaged the side of the building where the delivery and surgery rooms were located.
"Everyone, both the staff and the women, suffered severe stress," he said, adding that some of the patients only gave birth a couple days ago and had had surgery.
Nine people were injured in Kharkiv and an apartment building was also damaged in the attack.
Mothers with newborns have now been evacuated to a different medical facility, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram. He didn't say whether anyone at the hospital was among the injured.
Russia’s recent escalation of long-range Shahed drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, which often also include ballistic and cruise missiles as well as powerful glide bombs, has brought renewed urgency to efforts to improve Ukraine’s air defences after more than three years of war.
It has frequently targeted Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv, located in the northeast of the country, since launching its full-scale invasion in 2022.
“There is no silence in Ukraine,” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said after the Kharkiv bombardment. Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, has endured repeated and intensifying drone attacks in recent weeks, as have many other regions of the country.
One person died and at least five more were injured as a result of various Russian attacks over the past day in the surrounding region, governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
June brought the highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded, the UN human rights mission in Ukraine said Thursday. Russia launched 10 times more drones and missiles in June than in the same month last year, it said.
At the same time, Russia’s bigger army is pressing hard on parts of the 1,000 km (620-mile) front line, where thousands of soldiers on both sides have died since the Kremlin ordered the invasion.
Zelensky urged Ukraine’s Western partners to quickly enact pledges of help they made at an international meeting in Rome on Thursday.
'There is no silence in Ukraine' - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia's escalation of aerial attacks has been relentless. - Reuters
Ukraine desperately needs more US-made Patriot air defence systems to stop Russian missiles and more interceptor drones to bring down the Russian-made Shaheds, he said. Russia reportedly has expedited drone production, and Zelensky said Moscow plans to manufacture up to 1,000 drones a day.
Ukraine has asked foreign countries to supply it with another 10 Patriot systems and missiles, Zelensky said. Germany is ready to buy two systems and Norway has agreed to buy one, which will be passed on to Ukraine, he said.
Trump said late Thursday that the US is sending weapons including Patriots to other NATO countries, which are paying Washington for them and giving them to Ukraine.
He said in an interview with NBC he would make “a major statement” on Russia on Monday. He didn’t elaborate, but Zelensky has long pleaded for tighter economic sanctions on Moscow.
After repeated Russian drone and missile onslaughts in Kyiv, authorities announced they are establishing a comprehensive drone interception system under a project called “Clear Sky”.
The project includes a 260-million-hryvnia ($6.2 million) investment in interceptor drones, operator training, and new mobile response units, according to the head of the Kyiv Military Administration, Tymur Tkachenko.