Russian drone attack on Kharkiv petrol station kills seven | Ukraine

Ukraine

Three children among the dead in the Ukraine city, governor says, after strike causes burning fuel to spray out, igniting 14 houses

Agence France-Presse

Sat 10 Feb 2024 08.09 CET

Seven people, including three children, were killed in a Russian drone attack on a petrol station in the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, the regional governor said on Saturday.

“Unfortunately the death toll from the occupiers’ attacks on Kharkiv has risen to seven,” Oleg Synegubov said on the Telegram social network.

“Among them are three children: 7, 4 years old and a baby about six months old.”

The attack late on Friday night sprayed nearby homes with burning fuel, forcing at least 50 people to evacuate, Kharkiv mayor’s, Igor Terekhov, said earlier.

“The enemy’s Shaheds [Iranian-made drones] hit a petrol station, causing burning fuel to spill out and 14 private houses to burn,” he said, adding the fire was burning across a wide area.

Firefighters and rescuers worked through the night to cope with the consequences of the strike, extinguish fires, and clear through the debris, officials said.

Kharkiv regional prosecutor Oleksandr Filachkov said three drones hit Kharkiv’s Nemyshlyanskyi district.

“As a result, an object of critical infrastructure was destroyed. There was a large amount of fuel, which is why the consequences of the fire were so terrible,” he said, referring to the petrol station.

The Ukrainian air force said that air defence and mobile groups of drone hunters shot down 23 out of 31 Russian-launched drones, which were targeting the Kharkiv region and also the Odesa region.

Synehubov also said that Russian drones hit a restaurant in the small town of Velykyi Berluk, 100km from Kharkiv. He reported no casualties there.

Kharkiv has been under attack regularly since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has been a frequent target of Russian assaults in recent weeks.