Three dead in Russian airstrikes on Kharkiv as Putin exacts further revenge for Operation Spider’s Web

Russia continued to inflict punishing airstrikes on Ukraine overnight on Friday, targeting the country’s second city Kharkiv in a combined drone, aerial bomb and missile strike that left three people dead and another 18 injured, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.

The strikes on Kharkiv, as well as its suburbs, were carried out by 53 drones, four aerial bombs and one missile, the head of the Kharkiv Military Administration Oleg Sinegubov said on Saturday, adding that among the buildings struck was a nine-storey residential building, where 12 apartments on the upper floors caught fire, but from which rescue workers managed to pull one survivor from under the rubble.

Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region was also targeted by Russia overnight, with regional Governor Serhiy Lysak reporting on Saturday morning that two people had been injured in the regional capital Dnipro, and that air defence forces had managed to intercept six incoming Russian missiles and 27 drones.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) also targeted Russian cities in mass drone strikes overnight, with Moscow region Governor Andrey Vorobyev reporting on Saturday morning that two people had been injured by shrapnel in a dacha community in the town of Istra.

Moscow Mayor Serey Sobyanin said that four drones had been shot down on their approach to Moscow overnight on Friday, causing three of the Russian capital’s airports to temporarily suspend operations, though there were no casualties reported. All three airports have since reopened to traffic.

In total, 36 drones were shot down over Russia’s regions overnight, the Russian Defence Ministry wrote, with drone debris causing minor damage in the western Kaluga region, while an AFU drone targeting an aircraft factory was shot down in the western Russian city of Smolensk, according to Telegram news channel SOTA.