Kharkiv hospital hit as Ukraine faces power crisis
Overnight strikes damaged cardiology units and left hundreds of thousands without electricity ahead of key peace talks.
By Anthony Shevchenko ·
Russian forces struck a hospital in Kharkiv on Monday night, injuring at least 73 people. The attack landed as missiles and drones targeted energy infrastructure across nine Ukrainian regions. These strikes followed a day in which a Russian attack on an aid center killed at least 31 people.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported the direct hit on the hospital via social media. He noted that the cardiology department sustained damage while patients were undergoing treatment. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov posted photos of the facility, stating that more than 1,000 windows were shattered.
Zelenskyy detailed the scale of the overnight assault. He said Russia deployed 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles, and 59 cruise missiles. The targets included electricity generation facilities and substations in Odesa, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv, and Rivne.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed its forces attacked power plants in Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv. The ministry stated these sites supplied electricity to Ukrainian armed forces and military factories. In Zhytomyr, Governor Vitalii Bunechko reported that more than 180,000 people lost power on Tuesday morning. Scheduled outages also began in Odesa.
Ukraine launched a counterstrike against an oil refinery in Yaroslavl, Russia. Regional Governor Mikhail Yevrayev confirmed that a drone attack started a fire at the facility. He said two employees were injured in the incident.
The strikes coincided with renewed diplomatic efforts by the United States. US, Russian, and Ukrainian officials are scheduled to meet in Abu Dhabi next week. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said the agenda will cover security arrangements, humanitarian work, and steps toward peace. US negotiators will also meet with French, German, British, EU, and NATO representatives in Brussels this week to discuss security guarantees and economic rebuilding.
Tuesday’s US midterm elections drew attention from Kyiv. Al Jazeera correspondent Audrey MacAlpine described them as consequential for Ukrainians. She noted that no major military aid packages have arrived since the Trump administration took office. This contrasts with the $60 billion in aid provided during the early years of the war under President Biden. Europe has largely covered the gap, though Zelenskyy has prioritized restoring US aid for over six months.
