ISTANBUL

Ukraine said on Wednesday that at least one person was killed and 48 others were injured due to Russian drone strikes on the cities of Kharkiv and Dnipro in the country's northeast and southeast, respectively.

“The number of victims of the night attack by Russian drones on Kharkiv has increased to 47,” Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram concerning the latest casualties from the attack late Tuesday.

Earlier, Terekhov claimed 16 strikes were recorded in the city, saying that high-rise buildings and private houses, a medical facility, and civilian infrastructure were damaged.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said that 10 fires broke out in different parts of the city.

“Rescue operations are ongoing at the scene. Residential areas were hit, with damage to apartment buildings, a hospital, and a school – a total of 13 civilian sites in the city,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later said on X.

Zelenskyy reaffirmed his country’s position on the need to further pressure Russia to “force” it to a ceasefire and end the over three-year-long armed conflict.

“Pressure from the United States, from Europe, from everyone in the world who believes there is no place for war on this planet,” he went on to say, adding that Kyiv also needs additional air defense systems.

Ukraine’s Air Force claimed on Telegram that its air defenses shot down 50 out of 108 drones launched by Russia overnight, which it said also targeted the city of Dnipro, where Governor Serhiy Lysak reported that one person was killed and another injured.

Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city, which is located about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the Russian border, has been regularly targeted by airstrikes amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

Russian authorities have not yet commented on the latest attack.