Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city and roughly 40 kilometers from the Russian border, was struck repeatedly overnight and into Friday morning as the conflict reached its 1,500th day. Ukrainian officials reported four rocket strikes and at least 20 drones hit the city, damaging homes and offices and wounding five people, including an eight-year-old girl. Reuters images showed an apartment building struck during the attacks.
Officials said many of the drones were Iranian-built Shahed models fitted with jet engines, allowing them to cross the short distance from Russia to Kharkiv rapidly and making them hard to intercept. The raids followed a pattern described by the Ukrainian Air Force of overnight drone barrages followed by heavy daytime strikes as Moscow probes air defenses.
Large missile and drone strikes also hit Kyiv and surrounding areas. The head of Kyiv’s military administration, Mykola Kalashnyk, reported at least one death in the capital region. Local officials said there were three fatalities in Sumy region, one in Zhytomyr, and one in Kharkiv.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russian forces launched 542 drones and 37 missiles since Thursday night. Air defense units reportedly shot down 515 drones and 26 missiles.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the assaults an ‘Easter escalation,’ saying he spoke with the Pope as the attacks were under way and that strikes had intensified rather than paused for the holiday. Zelenskyy had said Kyiv was prepared for a possible Easter truce, but the Kremlin said it had received no proposals. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha characterized the strikes as a rejection of diplomacy and urged strong international responses.
Diplomatic efforts have been strained in recent weeks. US-brokered peace talks have stalled amid wider instability linked to the war in the Middle East, which has also raised uncertainty about future arms supplies to Ukraine. Zelenskyy said he invited US negotiators to Kyiv as an alternative to a planned trilateral technical-team meeting.
Ukrainian military spokespeople warned that Russian forces are experimenting with new routes, modernized drones, and fresh tactics. The strikes have disrupted public services and forced closures of some educational institutions.
Poland scrambled fighter jets in response to increased long-range aviation activity striking Ukrainian territory, and said ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance were at maximum readiness.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said it intercepted 192 Ukrainian drones overnight and suggested some flights targeted areas near oil export facilities around St. Petersburg. In Moscow, former president Dmitry Medvedev warned against tolerating possible Ukrainian EU membership, arguing the EU might evolve into a more militarized bloc and speculating about divisions within NATO and symbolic US moves.
Zelenskyy described the roughly 1,200-kilometer frontline in eastern Ukraine as largely stable and ‘slightly in the positive’ for Ukraine. He said Ukrainian forces had repelled a planned Russian offensive last month and that there was no immediate large-scale threat, while predicting Moscow would continue to intensify assaults. Russia currently holds just under 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory, much of it seized before the 2022 full-scale invasion. Open-source analysis indicates Russian advances have slowed, with about 500 square kilometers reportedly gained since January. Zelenskyy said the front line is holding and that the situation is the best it has been in the past ten months.