‘The deliberate murder of children’ As Trump prepares to host Zelensky at the White House, Russia launches deadly strike on apartment building in Ukraine’s Kharkiv
On Monday, just days after hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, U.S. President Donald Trump is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several European leaders at the White House to discuss the war.
In the early hours that same day, Russian drones struck a five-story apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. At least seven people were killed, including five members of one family — a father and mother, their 16-year-old son, an 18-month-old daughter, and the children’s grandmother. More than 30 others were injured, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov.
Kharkiv’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said the building had been deliberately targeted while residents were sleeping. “This is pure terror. Terror that has no explanation, no justification,” he wrote on Telegram.
“This is the deliberate murder of people by Russia, the murder of children,” Zelensky wrote in response to the attack. He noted that the strike on Kharkiv — along with a later missile attack on Zaporizhzhia that killed three people and injured at least 20 — came on the very day he and European leaders were meeting Trump at the White House.
“Putin will carry out these demonstrative killings in order to keep pressuring Ukraine and Europe, and to undercut diplomatic efforts,” Zelensky added. “That is why we are waiting for help to stop the killings. That is why we need reliable security guarantees. That is why Russia must not be rewarded for this war. The war must be ended. And it is Moscow that must finally hear the word ‘stop.’”
August 18 has been declared a day of mourning in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. Meduza shares photographs from the city showing the aftermath of the attack.
