LONDON — A minimum of seven individuals, together with two youngsters, have been killed by a Russian drone strike within the northeastern Ukrainian metropolis of Kharkiv on Sunday evening, in response to native officers.
Serhiy Bolvinov, the top of Kharkiv Nationwide Police’s investigations unit, stated in a publish to Fb that 5 Shahed strike drones hit an residence constructing at daybreak.
“A whole household died in an residence on the fifth ground,” Bolvinov stated.
Ukraine’s air power stated Russia launched 140 drones and 4 missiles within the nation in a single day into Monday morning, of which 88 drones have been shot down or suppressed.
Missile and drone impacts have been reported throughout 25 areas in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and Kyiv areas, the air power stated.
Zaporizhzhia Gov. Ivan Fedorov stated in a publish to Telegram that at the very least three individuals have been killed and at the very least 23 individuals injured by missile strikes within the southern area.
A resident seems to be at an residence constructing hit by a Russian drone strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Aug. 18, 2025.
Sofiia Gatilova/Reuters
The most recent assaults come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepares to fulfill President Donald Trump and a number of European leaders on the White Home on Monday, the place Trump has stated he hopes his Ukrainian counterpart will conform to a deal to finish Russia’s conflict.
“This was a fully demonstrative and cynical Russian strike,” Zelenskyy wrote in a publish to Telegram. “They know that at the moment in Washington there’s a assembly to finish the conflict.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Zelenskyy added, “will kill demonstratively to maintain pressuring Ukraine, Europe and to humiliate diplomatic efforts. That’s the reason we’re so eagerly awaiting assist to cease the killings. That’s the reason dependable safety ensures are wanted. That’s the reason Russia should not obtain any reward for this conflict. The conflict should be ended. And it’s Moscow that should hear the phrase ‘cease’.”
Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s influential chief of workers, wrote on Telegram of the most recent spherical of strikes, “Russia continues to intentionally kill civilians.”
“That is why Putin would not wish to cease the fireplace — he likes to shell peaceable cities and discuss wanting to finish the conflict,” Yermak wrote. “We do not see this want but.”
Either side have continued their long-range strike campaigns all through Trump’s efforts to craft a ceasefire and peace deal to finish the battle, which started with Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.
By July, Russia launched a file 6,443 drones and missiles into Ukraine, in response to knowledge printed by the Ukrainian air power, with a each day common of 201 drones and 6 missiles.
July’s month-to-month whole was the very best of the conflict to this point, and round 13% greater than have been recorded in June.
A minimum of 286 individuals have been killed and 1,388 injured in Ukraine in July, making final month the deadliest for Ukrainian civilians since Might 2022, in response to knowledge printed by the United Nations’ Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
A drone view reveals smoke rising from broken buildings on the web site of a Russian drone strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Aug. 18, 2025.
Kharkiv Regional Prosecutorâs /by way of Reuters
To this point in August, the dimensions of Russian strikes has diminished. As of Monday, Ukraine’s air power had recorded 1,344 drone and 27 missile launches by Russia in August — a median of round 74 drones and multiple missile per day to this point this month.
Russia’s Protection Ministry, in the meantime, has claimed to have shot down 1,740 Ukrainian drones to this point in August, at a each day common of round 96 per day.
The Protection Ministry in Moscow stated its forces downed at the very least 24 Ukrainian drones in a single day into Monday.
