WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Intense Russian drone attack on Kharkiv kills 2, injures 54, Ukraine says

A nine-minute-long Russian drone attack on Ukraine's second largest city of Kharkiv in the middle of the night killed at least two people and injured 54, including five children, regional officials said on Wednesday.

The intense strikes with 17 drones sparked fires in 15 units of a five-storey apartment building and caused other damage in the city close to the Russian border, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

"There are direct hits on multi-storey buildings, private homes, playgrounds, enterprises and public transport," Terekhov said on the Telegram messaging app.

"Apartments are burning, roofs are destroyed, cars are burnt, windows are broken."

A Reuters witness saw emergency rescuers helping to carry people out of damaged buildings, administering care and firefighters battling blazes in the dark.

Nine of the injured, including a 2-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, have been hospitalised, Oleh Sinehubov, the governor of the broader Kharkiv region, said on Telegram.

He added that the strikes hit also a city trolley bus depot and several residential buildings.

There was no immediate comment from Russia. Kharkiv, in Ukraine's northeast, withstood Russian full-scale advance in the early days of the warand has since been a frequent target of drone, missile, and guided aerial bomb assaults.

The attack followed Russia's two biggest assaults of the war on Ukraine this week, a part of intensified bombardments that Moscow said were retaliatory measures for Kyiv's recent attacks in Russia.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched on its smaller neighbour in February 2022. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.

"We are holding on. We are helping each other. And we will definitely survive," Terekhov said. "Kharkiv is Ukraine. And it cannot be broken."

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

US to cut Ukraine aid – defense secretary

The White House will be slashing military funding for Ukraine as the administration of US President Donald Trump seeks a peaceful resolution to the conflict, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said.

The Pentagon chief made the statement before the House Appropriations Committee in Congress on Tuesday.

“It is a reduction in this budget,” Hegseth said when asked about upcoming military aid funding for Ukraine.

“This administration takes a very different view of that conflict,” he added.

Trump has worked towards negotiating an end to the Ukraine conflict and has diplomatically re-engaged with Russia. Since he took office in January, Moscow and Kiev have restarted direct talks for the first time since 2022, when Ukraine unilaterally left the first Istanbul negotiations.

“A negotiated peaceful settlement is in the best interest of both parties and our nation's interests especially with all the competing interests around the globe,” Hegseth said.

The Trump administration has also touted an “America First” pivot and significantly cut foreign assistance, including aid to Ukraine, promising to channel funds towards domestic issues.

Last week, US Vice President J.D. Vance echoed Trump’s criticism of his predecessor Joe Biden, accusing his administration of spending “crazy”amounts of money on supporting Kiev. “They sent $300 billion to Ukraine,” without “trying to force a diplomatic settlement,” he said.

In April, Trump signed a major deal with Kiev allowing the US priority access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth, in what he described would be a way for Washington to “get back” the hundreds of billions it spent on Ukraine under Biden.

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has often complained of a constant shortage of US-supplied air defenses, and waning assistance from Washington in recent months. Additionally, the Trump administration rerouted some 20,000 anti-drone missiles – initially earmarked for Kiev under Biden – to the Middle East, the Ukrainian leader claimed on Sunday.

Reuters/RT