Russian drone strike on Kharkiv region park kills six, including three children; Zelensky says partners gave no warning of overnight missile attack

A Russian drone struck a park in Nova Vodolaha, in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, at about 4.30pm local time on Monday 19 October (1:30pm GMT Monday), killing six people, three of them children, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said, Ukrinform reported. At least 15 people were injured, including seven children, The Kyiv Independent reported, citing the governor. Prosecutors said preliminary findings pointed to a Geran-3 drone and opened a war-crimes investigation.

Overnight into Monday, Russia launched 16 ballistic missiles and more than 200 drones in several waves, in what President Volodymyr Zelensky called a “targeted attack on Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast”. He said strikes hit 28 substations and other critical energy facilities and that at least 550,000 households lost power, The Kyiv Independent reported. “Once again, there was no early warning from our partners,” he said, according to AFP, as reported by ABC News.

Mr Zelensky called the park strike “pure atrocity” and asked “that sanctions on Russia stay in place as long as the killings continue”, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its overnight “massive strike” hit defence plants, cruise missile and drone storage sites and a data centre in and around Kyiv, TASS reported. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Russia had never attacked Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure except facilities directly supplying Ukraine’s armed forces, according to a Foreign Ministry transcript. Casualty and damage claims could not be independently verified.

Background: Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Mr Zelensky said on Sunday that Russia had attacked Ukraine’s energy, oil and gas sectors 76 times since US President Donald Trump announced an energy ceasefire a week earlier. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday there had been “no pause” in intelligence sharing with Ukraine. See also: our report on Sunday’s strikes and Rubio’s comments.