A Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Monday killed six people, including children, according to Nettavisen. The victims were near a café in a park when a Shahed drone struck, the report says.
Oleh Synegubov, governor of the Kharkiv region, said the strike hit in broad daylight at a site with no military facilities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X that the drone hit people directly in a park beside an ordinary café, and he described the attack as sheer cruelty, Nettavisen reports.
Why it matters
The strike adds to the civilian toll of Russia's war in Ukraine and comes as Kyiv presses allies for more air defense. Zelensky said the dead include a girl just over a year old, born in August 2025, according to Nettavisen. He said the child was killed in her stroller and that her mother died in hospital.
"This is horrific footage, but behind it are ruined lives and the truth about this war," Zelensky wrote, according to Nettavisen. "Life must be protected. Ukraine needs air defense."
The attack also lands in the middle of a public dispute between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump. Nettavisen reports that the two leaders have traded words over the past week after Washington announced a diesel deal with Russia and Trump claimed an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine was in place.
Zelensky argued that profiting from trade with Russia is unacceptable while the war continues, and he called for sanctions to stay in force as long as the killings go on, according to Nettavisen.
A strike in daylight, and a governor's account
Synegubov's account places the attack in the middle of the day, in a recreation area. He said the enemy struck a park knowing there was no military infrastructure there, Nettavisen reports. The governor's statement and Zelensky's post together describe a scene with no apparent military target: a park, a café, and people out in the open.
The president's post identified the youngest victim as a girl a little over one year old. He said her mother died later in a hospital. Nettavisen's reporting does not give the ages or identities of the other victims, and it does not specify how many of the six were children.
The weapon named in the accounts is a Shahed drone, the type Russia has used repeatedly in strikes on Ukrainian cities. Nettavisen reports that the drone hit people directly.
A war of words with Washington
The Kharkiv strike came amid a sharp exchange between Kyiv and Washington. According to Nettavisen, the friction followed the US announcement of a diesel agreement with Russia and Trump's assertion that an energy ceasefire was in place between Russia and Ukraine.
Zelensky rejected the idea of doing business with Russia while its war continues, the report says. He asked that sanctions on Russia remain in place for as long as the killing continues.
The report does not say whether the diesel deal or the claimed ceasefire has any bearing on the fighting on the ground. It also does not say how Moscow responded to the strike or to Zelensky's remarks.
What to watch
Whether Ukraine's allies respond to Zelensky's renewed appeal for air defense, and how the dispute between Kyiv and Washington over trade and sanctions with Russia develops in the coming days.
