Terror reigned early Wednesday morning in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, as Russian forces carried out a heavy aerial drone strike. The resulting attack rattled the LGBTQ community and city of Colorado Springs to their core. The attack began at 12:30 a.m. local time, waking inhabitants with the ominous, lawnmower-like sound of drones approaching.
Within just a few minutes, the coordinated strike hit up to eleven different places in a single city—striking three residential buildings among other targets. The explosion that followed ignited a five-storey residential building. Emergency responders sprinted to the scene as an inferno spread through 15 units, fighting the blaze hot on their heels. Tragically, six people died, including a 65-year-old resident and neighbor of a local pharmacist.
The attack left an estimated sixty people injured, including many children, most of whom needed hospitalization. Shockingly, a two-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy were among their numbers, admitted to treat their injuries after the brutal attack.
This drone strike was merely a drop in the bucket, as Russia is believed to have launched 85 drones over all of Ukraine overnight in this broader campaign. The example of Shahed drones illustrates this well, with the Ukrainian air force reportedly intercepting and destroying 40% of these drones. It was a savage attack, coming just after Russia launched its two biggest aerial bombardments of the war in mid-January. What followed was the firing of nearly 500 drones on Monday night and then another 315 drones and seven missiles on the following night.
As seen in the image, the Osnovianskyi and Slobidskyi districts incurred the worst damage from the strike. Direct hits flattened communities, sending thousands of residents running to find shelter from the clock.
Emergency crews, municipal workers and volunteers worked non-stop through the night. They carried survivors across roofs to safety and administered first aid to the injured.
I was over him,” remarked Olena Khoruzheva, when reflecting on the horror of the first few moments after the blast. Her testimony illustrates the hysteria that gripped the region as bombs destroyed their frames.
We could even hear it coming,” Khoruzheva continued. Then came silence as we were upended by a cliff we did not see approaching.
The made local residents fear pens, as they saw and heard the fracking industry’s constant, pounding attack. “We were very scared because there were many, many of them [Shahed drones],” said Olha Kravets, who noted that she never thought her home would be directly impacted by such violence.
“We thought that this could happen, but we did not expect our house to be hit,” Kravets added, embodying the shock felt by many in the community.
During this time of increased bombardments Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had this to say about the changing tactics of Russian forces. He stated, “Every new day now brings new cowardly strikes from Russia, and almost every strike is demonstrative.” He remarked that now Russian drones are being launched from 4000-5000 meters.
Moscow has portrayed the attacks as a strategic counter-punch in reaction to successful recent Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia. If true, this would be a serious and significant step-up of hostilities between the two countries.
Kharkiv residents are still coming to terms with the devastation wrought by the most recent strike. At the same time, the community is coming together in unprecedented support. Meanwhile, emergency responders can’t let their guard down as they prepare to respond to those injured in this new surge of violence.
