“Will definitely respond to this Russian strike”: Zelenskyy says 10 killed in strike on Kharkiv region
Kyiv [Ukraine], August 18 (ANI): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 10 people were killed after Russian forces launched a strike on a busy intersection in Pechenihy in the Kharkiv region on the morning of Tuesday (local time).
In a post on X, Zelenskyy said, "This morning, the Russians launched a brutal attack on a busy intersection in Pechenihy, Kharkiv region - a location with a post office and stores, surrounded only by residential buildings."
This morning, the Russians launched a brutal attack on a busy intersection in Pechenihy, Kharkiv region – a location with a post office and stores, surrounded only by residential buildings.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 18, 2026
As of now, 10 people have been reported killed. My condolences to their families and… pic.twitter.com/AnFmXsSzAS
"As of now, 10 people have been reported killed. My condolences to their families and loved ones," he said, adding that many people were injured and were receiving necessary medical care.
Zelenskyy said first responders had extinguished the fire, and emergency response services continued working at the site. "All the circumstances of this tragedy are being established," he said.
"We will definitely respond to this Russian strike," Zelenskyy said, while calling on Ukraine's international partners to increase pressure on Russia.
"And it is equally important that our partners also complement our just kinetic responses with their own actions to put pressure on Russia and support Ukraine," he added.
The incident comes as earlier on Sunday, Russian air defence intercepted and downed 822 Ukrainian drones while at least six people were killed in Ukrainian-drone attacks, according to a series of reports by news agency TASS.
As per TASS, 822 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over Russian regions and the Black and Azov Seas were intercepted and destroyed overnight, the Russian Defence Ministry said.
"Russian air defense forces intercepted and destroyed 822 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles over Belgorod, Bryansk, Vladimir, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Oryol, Rostov, Ryazan, Tambov and Tula regions, the Moscow Region, the Krasnodar Region and the Republic of Crimea, as well as over the Azov and Black Seas, from 8 p.m. Moscow time (5 p.m. GMT) on August 15 to 8 a.m. Moscow time (5 a.m. GMT) on August 16," the Defence Ministry said.
Meanwhile, two separate reports by TASS on that day mentioned that at least six people were killed and four injured in drone attacks in Rostov and Moscow.
As per the report on Sunday, three people were killed, and one more was injured in a drone attack on southern Russia's Rostov Region, Governor Yury Slyusar reported.
"Last night, three people were killed as a result of an aerial attack on the Rostov Region, and one more has been hospitalised with injuries," he wrote on the Max channel, according to TASS.
The report further mentioned, quoting the official, that more than 150 UAVs were destroyed over three cities and nine districts in the region in the Ukrainian attack, the official added.
In another report earlier on that day, TASS mentioned that three people were injured in a drone attack near the Moscow Automobile Ring Road (MKAD), according to Mayor Sergey Sobyanin.
"Defence Ministry air defence capabilities have downed another nine drones targeting Moscow. Three people were injured near MKAD; they are being given all necessary assistance. Emergency specialists are working at the scene where [drone] debris fell," Sobyanin wrote on the Max channel, as per TASS. (ANI)
