Kyiv

A Russian drone attack overnight struck a residential home in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, killing a man and his three young children and leaving their mother — who is in the advanced stage of pregnancy — critically injured, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday.

According to the Kharkiv regional prosecutor’s office, the drone hit a brick house in the town of Bohodukhiv, reducing it to rubble and sparking a fire. The family was trapped beneath the debris following the impact.

The victims included a 34-year-old father, his two-year-old twin sons and their one-year-old sister. Rescue workers managed to pull the children’s mother alive from the wreckage. She is 35 weeks pregnant and suffered multiple injuries, including burns, blast trauma, a head injury and partial hearing loss, officials said.

Civilians across Ukraine have continued to bear the brunt of aerial assaults nearly four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, despite renewed diplomatic efforts led by the United States over the past year to bring an end to the conflict.

The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said 2025 marked the deadliest year for civilians since 2022, as Russia intensified long-range attacks away from the front lines. The UN recorded 2,514 civilian deaths and 12,142 injuries last year — a 31 per cent increase compared to 2024.

Investigators identified the drone used in the Bohodukhiv strike as a Geran-2, the Russian-produced version of the Iranian-designed Shahed drone.

Bohodukhiv mayor Volodymyr Bielyi described the incident as an immeasurable loss. “We have lost the most precious thing — our future,” he wrote on social media, adding that there were no words or prayers that could console a mother who had lost her children.

He said the injured woman remains in critical condition and announced three days of mourning in the town, during which national flags will be flown at half-mast and all public entertainment events suspended.

Bohodukhiv, located about 22 kilometres from the Russian border, had a population of roughly 15,000 before the war. Authorities did not immediately indicate whether any Ukrainian military facilities were located near the targeted home.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strike further erodes confidence in diplomatic efforts to end the war. “Each such attack once again proves that only strong pressure on Russia and firm security guarantees for Ukraine can stop these killings,” he said in a social media post.

Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russian forces of committing widespread war crimes since the invasion began. European institutions have sought to hold Moscow accountable, and the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for several Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, over alleged war crimes such as the deportation of Ukrainian children.

Zelenskyy said late Tuesday that Ukraine is revising its approach to countering aerial attacks, with a focus on strengthening short-range air defence systems. He also highlighted the urgent need for training and reinforcing manpower as Russia’s larger army continues to press forward, albeit slowly.

Ukraine faces serious challenges, including troop shortages, large-scale desertions and an estimated two million draft evaders, Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said last month.

The Ukrainian leader has urged Western allies to step up deliveries of advanced air defence systems and missiles. However, military aid to Kyiv fell by 13 per cent last year compared with the annual average from 2022 to 2024 after the United States halted weapons supplies, according to a report released Wednesday by Germany’s Kiel Institute.

European nations partially offset the shortfall by increasing their military assistance by 67 per cent over the same period, the institute said. Humanitarian and financial aid to Ukraine also declined by about 5 per cent last year.

Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russia launched 129 long-range drones across the country overnight.

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Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones struck an industrial facility in Russia’s Volgograd region, sparking a fire, according to local authorities. Governor Andrei Bocharov said drone debris also damaged a residential building, and officials reported that operations were briefly suspended at eight Russian airports due to the attacks.