73 injured as Russian bombs hit Kharkiv hospital
Ukraine reports widespread energy strikes across nine regions ahead of high-level peace talks in Abu Dhabi.
By Ethan Cooper ·
Seventy-three people were injured when Russian forces struck a city clinical hospital in Kharkiv on Monday night. The blast damaged the cardiology department, where patients were receiving treatment. Local authorities reported that more than 1,000 windows at the facility were shattered during the bombardment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the operation as a complex and massive attack. He stated that Russia targeted power generation facilities and substations in nine regions. These included Odesa, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv, and Rivne. Zelenskyy said Russian forces launched 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles, and 59 cruise missiles during the overnight strike. This followed a previous day in which at least 31 people were killed at an aid distribution center.
The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed its targeting of electricity infrastructure in the Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv regions. The ministry stated in a statement that these sites supplied power to the Ukrainian army and military factories. In the Zhytomyr region, Governor Vitalii Bunechko reported that more than 180,000 people were without power on Tuesday morning. Odesa has implemented scheduled power outages in response to the damage.
Ukrainian forces also struck back. Two employees at a Russian oil refinery in Yaroslavl were injured during a drone attack that caused a fire at the site, according to Governor Mikhail Yevrayev. The exchange of strikes occurs as the United States intensifies efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict. A meeting between US, Russian, and Ukrainian officials is scheduled for next week in Abu Dhabi.
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said the upcoming discussions in Abu Dhabi would focus on post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, and humanitarian efforts. He added that US negotiators would meet with representatives from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and NATO in Brussels this week. Those talks will address security guarantees for Ukraine and economic opportunities for reconstruction.
Al Jazeera correspondent Audrey MacAlpine noted that the US midterm elections on Tuesday are critical for Ukraine's future aid. She observed that since the change in the US administration, there have been no major military aid packages for Ukraine. MacAlpine pointed out that European nations have largely filled that gap. She added that resuming US aid has been a top priority for President Zelenskyy for over six months.
Zelenskyy confirmed the hospital damage on X, noting the direct strike on the clinical facility. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov verified the extent of the damage on Telegram. The next scheduled step in the diplomatic process involves the Brussels meeting this week, followed by the trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi next week.
