Family of 5 among 7 killed in Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s Kharkiv city
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Rescue services personnel working on Feb 10 at the scene of a Russian drone strike in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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KYIV - A Ukrainian prosecutor, her husband and their three small children were among seven people killed after a Russian drone attack on the north-eastern city of Kharkiv hit an oil depot, triggering blazes that burned half a street to the ground, officials said on Feb 10.
The regional prosecutor’s office named the local prosecutor who died – along with her children Oleksiy, seven, Mykhailo, three, and 10-month-old Pavlo – as Olha Putyatina and added: “The family were held hostage by a fire inside their own home.”
Ms Putyatina, 35, was on maternity leave and had worked in the Kharkiv regional office since June 2012, according to a message on the office’s official Telegram channel.
An elderly couple living on the same street were also killed in the attack that Mayor Ihor Terekhov said injured 57 people and razed 15 homes.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Feb 10 that “Russian terrorists” would be held accountable. “It should be noted that in history, the perpetrators of such murders did not go unpunished,” he said.
Mayor Terekhov called for a day of mourning for Feb 11. All of those killed had lived on Kotelnia Street, Mr Serhii Bolvinov, head of the investigative department of the National Police in the region, told reporters on the ruined street.
The Ukrainian air force said air defence and mobile groups of drone hunters shot down 23 out of 31 Russian-launched drones that targeted the regions of Kharkiv and Odesa, in the south.
Mr Oleh Kiper, governor of Odesa region, said that drone attacks injured four people and damaged industrial facilities, cars and some port infrastructure.
In Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said several drones hit the oil depot, causing fuel to leak. Firefighters and rescuers worked through the night to extinguish fires and clear the debris.
Mr Zelensky said in his address that four people had been rescued and dozens evacuated.
Mr Synehubov also said that Russian drones hit a restaurant in the small town of Velykyi Berluk, 100km from Kharkiv. He reported no casualties there.
Russia did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Moscow has said its forces do not deliberately target civilian sites.
Kharkiv has been under regular attack since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has been a frequent target of Russian assaults in recent weeks. REUTERS
