LONDON -- At least seven people, including two children, were killed by a Russian drone strike in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Sunday night, according to local officials.Serhiy Bolvinov, the head of Kharkiv National Police's investigations unit, said in a post to Facebook that five Shahed strike drones hit an apartment building at dawn."An entire family died in an apartment on the fifth floor," Bolvinov said.Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 140 drones and four missiles in the country overnight into Monday morning, of which 88 drones were shot down or suppressed.Missile and drone impacts were reported across 25 locations in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and Kyiv regions, the air force said.Zaporizhzhia Gov.Ivan Fedorov said in a post to Telegram that at least three people were killed and at least 23 people injured by missile strikes in the southern region.A resident looks at an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Aug.
18, 2025.Sofiia Gatilova/ReutersThe latest attacks come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepares to meet President Donald Trump and a host of European leaders at the White House on Monday, where Trump has said he hopes his Ukrainian counterpart will agree to a deal to end Russia's war."This was an absolutely demonstrative and cynical Russian strike," Zelenskyy wrote in a post to Telegram."They know that today in Washington there is a meeting to end the war."Russian President Vladimir Putin, Zelenskyy added, "will kill demonstratively to keep pressuring Ukraine, Europe and to humiliate diplomatic efforts.
That is why we are so eagerly awaiting help to stop the killings.That is why reliable security guarantees are needed.
That is why Russia must not receive any reward for this war.The war must be ended.
And it is Moscow that must hear the word 'stop'."Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy's influential chief of staff, wrote on Telegram of the latest round of strikes, "Russia c...