Russian attacks across Ukraine killed 14 people on Monday, including seven in a drone strike that destroyed part of an apartment block in Kharkiv, authorities confirmed. The strikes came just hours before President Volodymyr Zelensky met US President Donald Trump in Washington.
Kharkiv’s governor, Oleg Synegubov, said the drone strike reduced part of a five-storey residential building to rubble and ignited fires on several floors. Emergency crews released footage showing rescuers clawing through debris to free a trapped civilian.
Interior Minister Igor Klymenko reported that two children were among the dead, with 23 others injured. Earlier in the night, a ballistic missile strike on the city wounded at least 11 people, according to Mayor Igor Terekhov.
Elsewhere, Klymenko confirmed three deaths and 23 injuries in the Zaporizhzhia region, while prosecutors said Russian shelling killed four people in Dobropillia and Kostiantynivka, both in Donetsk. In Odesa, drone strikes set fire to a fuel depot, regional governor Oleg Kiper said.
The escalation coincided with Zelensky’s arrival in Washington, where he joined European leaders calling themselves the “coalition of the willing” in talks with Trump. The discussions aim to end the war, now in its fourth year.
Before Zelensky’s visit, Trump said Ukraine could not reclaim Crimea or join NATO under any peace deal. Zelensky, however, has repeatedly rejected ceding the peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014.
Moscow has reportedly proposed that Ukraine abandon the Donbas in exchange for freezing the frontline in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where Kyiv still controls the main cities.