Five people, including three young children, were killed in overnight Russian strikes on Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday, as international efforts led by the United States to end the war continue to move slowly.
According to Zelenskyy, a Russian drone hit a private residence in the town of Bohodukhiv in the northeastern Kharkiv region late Tuesday night. The attack killed four members of a single family and left the mother — who is heavily pregnant — critically injured.
Regional prosecutors said the strike completely levelled the home, burying the family beneath the debris.
Three Children Among the Dead
Authorities confirmed that the victims included twin boys aged two, their one-year-old sister and their 34-year-old father. The children’s 35-weeks-pregnant mother was the only survivor.
Rescue teams pulled her from the rubble with multiple injuries, including burns, blast trauma, a brain injury and hearing loss.
The Kharkiv regional prosecutor’s office described the destruction as total, with the house reduced to rubble by the explosion.
Town Declares Mourning
Bohodukhiv Mayor Volodymyr Bielyi announced three days of mourning in the town, located about 22 kilometres from the Russian border.
“We have lost what is most precious – our future,” Bielyi wrote on social media, referring to the children killed in the attack. He said the mother remains hospitalised and fighting for her life.
Local officials described the tragedy as devastating for the small border community.
Additional Casualties in Sumy
In a separate drone assault overnight, two more children were killed in the northeastern Sumy region, Ukrainian authorities said. Several districts were targeted in what officials described as sustained attacks over a 24-hour period.
Zelenskyy stated that Russia launched 129 long-range drones since Tuesday night. Among the reported targets were a hospital in Zaporizhzhia and a railway depot in Konotop in the Sumy region, where firefighting equipment was damaged. Additional strikes were reported in Dnipro and Poltava.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Telegram that a railway station in the Dnipropetrovsk region was also hit, damaging locomotives and rail infrastructure. He described the strike as another deliberate attack on civilian logistics.
Zelenskyy: Pressure on Russia Must Increase
Zelenskyy said the continued attacks demonstrate that Moscow is not seeking to de-escalate the conflict.
“Each such strike undermines trust in diplomatic efforts to end this war,” he said, arguing that stronger international pressure and firm security guarantees for Ukraine are essential to halt the violence.
He added that without increased pressure on Russia and stronger protections for Ukraine, diplomatic initiatives alone would not succeed.
Ukraine and Russia Exchange Drone Strikes
Ukraine’s General Staff reported that its forces targeted multiple Russian military positions overnight, including personnel concentrations, artillery systems, drone control points and command centres.
Meanwhile, Russian authorities said a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at an industrial facility in Volgograd. Regional Governor Andrei Bocharov said debris from intercepted drones also damaged a residential building.
Russia’s Defence Ministry stated that its air defence systems shot down 108 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight.
War Continues Amid Slow Diplomacy
The latest exchange of drone strikes highlights the ongoing intensity of the conflict, even as diplomatic efforts continue at a gradual pace. Nearly three years into the war, both sides remain locked in a cycle of retaliatory attacks.