- By Jaroslav Lukiv
- BBC News
Kharkiv officials say 15 houses on one street were completely gutted after the Russian attack
A Russian drone strike in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv has killed seven people, local officials said.
Among the victims were two parents who were “burned alive” with their three boys in their home, regional deputy police chief Serhiy Plovinov said.
“An entire street … turned into a hellish molten mass,” he told Ukrainian television after Friday night's attack.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekov said 15 private houses were completely burned.
President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed a “just response” to Russian “terrorism”.
He identified the three children killed as Oleksii, 7, Mykhailo, 4, and seven-month-old Pavlo.
An elderly couple died in another house on the same Kotelna Street in the city's eastern Nemishliansky District.
“The Russian occupier is destroying our city,” Mayor Derekov said in a video message from the scene. “But we will win. We will win,” he added.
He said the Russian attack left 57 locals “without a home, without documents, without money, without personal belongings”.
Authorities in Ukraine had previously said a petrol station had been hit – but later corrected their statement.
Kharkiv – Ukraine's second-largest city near the Russian border – has seen almost daily Russian attacks in recent days.
Separately, another Russian drone strike on Friday night injured one person in Ukraine's southern city of Odesa.
Russia's military has not publicly commented on the reported strikes.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
