OCHA reports civilians killed and dozens injured in Russian attacks on Kharkiv and Kyiv

The UN aid coordination office (OCHA) said that Russian attacks in recent days on Kharkiv and Kyiv, Ukraine’s two largest cities, have again killed and injured civilians. It said the strikes also damaged homes and civilian infrastructure. OCHA said aid workers and rescuers were on the ground in both cities after aerial strikes that killed residents and injured dozens of others.

OCHA reported that one civilian was killed and 11 injured across Kyiv. Among those affected is a girl whose mother was killed in one attack. Aid workers are providing shelter materials, along with psychological and legal support.

The figures for Kharkiv came from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, not from OCHA. He said on social media that a residential building was destroyed and four people were killed. He said rescuers searched the rubble virtually all night. He said 41 people were injured in the city in a single evening. The Ukrainian Red Cross said its emergency response team helped rescue eight people after a Russian missile strike on Kharkiv. It said it has set up an assistance point for those affected. Kharkiv is in northeastern Ukraine, close to the Russian border.

Mr Zelenskyy said Russia attacked Ukraine overnight with more than 100 drones, loitering munitions and ballistic missiles. He said Kyiv was hit by five ballistic missiles that struck civilian infrastructure. The sources do not say how many of those weapons were intercepted. They give no total from OCHA for the dead and injured across both cities.

The attacks came after the US President announced an energy ceasefire two days earlier, according to Mr Zelenskyy. He said Ukraine had not struck Russian oil refineries or the energy sector since then. He said Russia had continued to attack Ukraine’s energy facilities. He said Ukraine is ready for reciprocal steps towards de-escalation. According to news reports cited by UN News, Russia has said “contacts are ongoing”, without providing details on the potential ceasefire. The sources carry no Russian account of the strikes themselves. UN News could not verify either side’s claims about the energy ceasefire.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that over the weekend six children were reportedly killed and 11 injured. “More children killed, more families facing unimaginable loss. This violence must not become the new normal,” the agency said.

Separately, in the Mykolaiv region, the UN project services agency UNOPS is working with local authorities to restore damaged public facilities. The work is backed by more than $20 million in funding from Denmark. It includes restoring the historic Arkas Lyceum in central Mykolaiv and major repairs to a lyceum in the frontline community of Snihurivka. Both projects include underground shelters so children can study safely during air alerts. UNOPS is also delivering school buses, emergency and firefighting vehicles, waste management trucks and medical equipment.

“Children need safe schools, patients need quality healthcare and families need dependable utilities,” said Marysia Zapasnik, UNOPS programme head in the region. UNOPS is part of the UN system, which is itself a party to this story as a provider of aid in Ukraine.