Russian forces pursue day-long drone barrage of Ukraine’s Kharkiv

KYIV — Russian forces maintained a day-long barrage of drone strikes on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, on Thursday, injuring at least two people, local officials said.Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday he had spoken to US negotiators about an Easter ceasefire but Russian forces had fired more than 700 drones – many of them Iranian-designed Shaheds – targeting parts of western and central Ukraine in a rare daytime attack.Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov posted reports on Telegram throughout the day and well into the ‌evening, noting ‌strikes in four city districts. ‌One ⁠city official said there ⁠had been at least 20 impacts from drones.Public broadcaster Suspilne reported new explosions in the city after 2 a.m. (2300 GMT).Terekhov said some of the strikes triggered fires and two people were injured in an evening ⁠attack, including an eight-year-old girl.Reuters Television ‌footage showed firefighters ‌spraying water on a smoldering residence struck by a ‌drone. Parts of the facade were badly ‌damaged and furniture and fixtures in apartments were smashed.Further south, in the city of Zaporizhzhia, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said a Russian attack damaged ‌a high-rise apartment building and a local business. No injuries were reported.Over the ⁠border ⁠in Russia’s Belgorod Region, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said 13 people were injured in a series of drone attacks, 11 of them in the village of Shebekino, just inside the border.A Russian air attack hit a port in Ukraine’s Odesa region early on Thursday, setting shipping containers on fire, leaving no casualties, Ukrainian officials said.Video released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Odesa region showed rescuers working at the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk as flames burned among stacked containers.In Moscow, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram that air defense units had downed a Ukrainian drone which was heading for the capital well after midnight. Two other drones had been intercepted on Thursday.