Russian drone strike kills three children and their father in Bohodukhiv, Kharkiv region, Ukrainian officials say
A Russian drone strike destroyed a home in the town of Bohodukhiv, west of Kharkiv, killing three young children and their father, Ukrainian officials said. The attack came amid one of the largest overnight drone barrages in recent weeks.
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Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 129 drones overnight, adding that air defenses shot down or neutralized 112 of them. It did not specify how many targeted the Kharkiv region.
The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office said a drone hit a residential building late last night, collapsing the structure and igniting a fire that trapped the family beneath the rubble. “As a result of the strike, the house was completely destroyed and engulfed in flames, and the family was trapped under the rubble,” the office wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said earlier on Telegram that the victims were two boys aged one and a two-year-old girl, along with a 34-year-old man. Officials described the man as the children’s father.
Ukrainian police said the family had evacuated from a nearby village just days earlier, only to be killed in Bohodukhiv, a district town northwest of Kharkiv city.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, lies roughly 30 kilometers (about 19 miles) from the Russian border and has been struck repeatedly by missiles, glide bombs and drones throughout the war. The surrounding region has endured near-daily aerial attacks, often aimed at energy infrastructure and residential areas, according to local authorities.
While Ukraine reported shooting down most of the drones overnight, the strike in Bohodukhiv underscored the persistent danger to civilians living near the front lines and along the border. Large-scale drone assaults can stretch air defenses and increase the risk that individual aircraft slip through to populated areas.
Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Moscow has frequently used long-range missiles and drones to hit targets deep inside Ukraine, while Kyiv has increased its own strikes against military and logistical sites in Russian-held territory and inside Russia itself.
Emergency response and recovery efforts in Bohodukhiv continued after the strike, local authorities said. No additional casualties were immediately reported by regional officials.
Further details about the overnight drone attacks and the specific type of unmanned aircraft used in Bohodukhiv were not immediately released by Ukrainian authorities.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
