Kyiv, 10 February 2024 (dpa/MIA) – Russian drone attacks on Ukraine's north-eastern Kharkiv region claimed at least seven lives, including two children and a baby, Kharkiv military governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on his Telegram channel on Saturday.

The children were aged seven and four years, and the baby around six months, Syniehubov said. Three people were injured.

Russian forces launched 31 Iran-designed Shahed-136/131 drones both from Russia itself and from Russian-occupied Crimea, the Ukrainian air force reported. The attacks focused on the Kharkiv region and on Odessa on the Black Sea.

Ukrainian defences intercepted 23 of the drones, but both regions nevertheless reported that some of strikes had hit their targets.

Only damaged buildings were reported from the Odessa region, military governor Oleh Kiper reported.

The attacks on Kharkiv however resulted in damage to 15 residential buildings in the regional capital. A later attack destroyed a café in the town of Velykyi Burluk to the west of Kharkiv.

In addition, Russian forces mounted aerial attacks on villages close to the front line and subjected around 20 villages to artillery barrages.

Russian forces attempted to seize Kharkiv, which lies close to the Russian border, at the start of the invasion in February 2022 but failed. Much of the region was occupied for months until a Ukrainian offensive in the autumn of 2022 recovered much of the ground.

Russian forces are now advancing again, with the Ukrainians on the defensive and running short of ammunition and other supplies.