STORY: A concentrated, 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 57, including seven children, regional officials said on Wednesday (June 11).

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

Nine of the injured, including a 2-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, have been hospitalized, 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.

The Ukrainian military said Russia had launched 85 drones overnight, 40 of which were shot down.

It said nine drones were lost - a reference to the Ukrainian military using electronic warfare to redirect them - or they were drone simulators that did not carry warheads.

"The main areas of the air strike are Kharkiv, Donetsk and Odesa regions," the military said on Telegram.

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

The overnight 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.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VIDEO SHOWS: APARTMENT BLOCK ON FIRE / MEDICS EVACUATING INJURED / BURNT BODY INSIDE DESTROYED APARTMENT / RESCUERS WORKING ON SITE / KHARKIV MAYOR IHOR TEREKHOV COMMENTING

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: REFILING TO REMOVE SOME OVERLY GRAPHIC SHOTS / THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES (SHOT 1)

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS: KHARKIV, UKRAINE (JUNE 11, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all)

1. MEDICS AND RESCUERS CARRYING INJURED MAN INTO AMBULANCE

2. VARIOUS OF MEDICS HELPING INJURED MAN

3. POLICE AND RESCUERS CARRYING ELDERLY WOMAN

4. RESCUERS ON SITE

5. VARIOUS OF APARTMENT BLOCK ON FIRE

6. APARTMENT BLOCK RESIDENTS LOOKING AT FIRE

7. KHARKIV MAYOR IHOR TEREKHOV SPEAKING TO RESIDENTS

8. (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) KHARKIV MAYOR, IHOR TEREKHOV, SAYING:

“Kharkiv is under attack yet again. 17 Shahed drones hit the city. As of now, three 5-storey apartment blocks are damaged. Also, private dwellings and industrial enterprises were hit.”

9. APARTMENT BLOCK RESIDENT LOOKING AT SITE

10. VARIOUS OF RESCUERS WORKING ON SITE

11. VARIOUS OF APARTMENT BLOCK ON FIRE

12. VARIOUS OF RESCUERS INSIDE BURNT APARTMENT

13. FIRE BURNING INSIDE APARTMENT

14. BURNT APARTMENT

15. AMBULANCE ON SITE

16. VARIOUS OF MEDICS HELPING VITALII HOLOVIN, OWNER OF DESTROYED APARTMENT

17. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) OWNER OF DESTROYED APARTMENT, VITALII HOLOVIN, SAYING:

“There was a fire. I felt the smoke, I got out. I didn’t have a chance to take any documents or money. There was a lot of smoke. It was impossible to stay in smoke and look for something.”

18. HOLOVIN WALKING

19. VARIOUS OF MEDICS AND POLICE CARRYING ELDERLY MAN

20. FIRE ENGINE ON SITE

21. IRYNA (NO LAST NAME GIVEN), RESIDENT OF NEARBY BUILDING, HOLDING BURNT DOG BELONGING TO INJURED MAN WHO WAS HOSPITALISED

22. BURNT DOG

23. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RESIDENT OF NEARBY BUILDING, IRYNA (NO LAST NAME GIVEN), SAYING:

“The dog got burnt.”

REPORTER ASKING ‘It burnt?’

“We carried it from the fourth floor. It is the neighbour’s dog.”

24. APARTMENT ON FIRE

25. FIRE ENGINES ON SITE

26. VARIOUS OF RESCUERS WORKING ON SITE

27. REMAINS OF DRONE