Europe 1 with AFP 9:34 a.m., February 10, 2024
Seven people were killed, including three children, on Saturday during nighttime Russian drone strikes on a gas station in Kharkiv, a town in eastern Ukraine, announced the region's governor, Oleg Sinegoubov.
“Unfortunately the death toll from the occupier's attacks on Kharkiv rose to seven,” Oleg Sinegoubov said on the Telegram social network. “Among them are three children: a 7-year-old, a 4-year-old and a baby of around six months,” he added.
The drones, Iranian-made Shaded, "hit a gas station and caused a spill of flaming fuel, which caused 14 private houses to burn," said the city's mayor Igor Terekhov, adding that the fire covered a large area and led to the evacuation of around fifty people.
14 houses destroyed by flames
"Three drones struck the Nemyshlyanskyi district of Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine. Sensitive infrastructure was destroyed," Kharkiv regional prosecutor Oleksandr Filachkov said, referring to the gas station. “There was a huge quantity of fuel” spilled, “which explains why the fire was so terrible,” he stressed.
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“At 6 a.m., the fight to put out the flames continued, 14 houses (were) destroyed,” said Kharkiv police chief Volodymyr Timochko, quoted by the Suspilne newspaper. Saturday's attack comes after a series of nighttime strikes in Kharkiv and further east, in the town of Velykyi Burlouk. The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleg Sinegubov, previously said that civilian areas were affected in both localities, including a cafe in Velykyi Burlouk.