At least 10 people died this Tuesday in a Russian missile attack on a village in the northeastern Kharkiv region of Ukraine, according to the country’s authorities. Another 17 people were injured in the offensive, according to the region’s governor, Oleh Syniehubov, via the Telegram messaging app. President Volodymyr Zelensky has promised a response from his country: “We will undoubtedly respond to this Russian attack.”
“This morning, the Russians launched a brutal attack on a very busy intersection in Pechenihy, in the Kharkiv region, a place where there is a post office and shops, surrounded only by residential buildings,” Zelensky wrote on his X account (formerly Twitter). The president also posted photos of a destroyed building, cars on fire, and emergency personnel carrying people on stretchers. Russia has not yet commented on the attack.
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
Syniehubov confirmed that about ten private buildings, a café, a post office, a store, and at least seven cars were also damaged. The General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine stated that, according to preliminary information, Russia used two small Banderol cruise missiles in the offensive.
Ukrainian authorities no longer regularly report the number of projectiles Russia launches against their territory, at a time when the lack of air defenses is making interception difficult.
Attack on Zaporizhzhia
Hours earlier, the governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, had reported via his account on the Russian state messaging service MAX that at least one civilian died and 16 others were injured after a Ukrainian drone attack on a bus stop in Enerhodar, the city that houses the largest nuclear power plant on the European continent.
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“They were waiting for the bus at the stop, to get to work,” wrote Balitsky, who is very close to the Kremlin. He then condemned that “this attack against them is a terrorist act that only the Nazi lunatics in Kiev can justify.” The mayor of this city occupied by Russia, Maxim Pujov, stated via the same channel that three of the injured were in serious condition.
Enerhodar is a frequent target of attacks, which Kiev and Moscow accuse each other of. Many of its inhabitants are employees of the nearby nuclear power plant, controlled by Russia practically since the beginning of the invasion. In August 2022, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sent a permanent mission of inspectors who assess the physical damage and safety of the plant, to prevent a nuclear accident in the middle of the conflict zone.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that last night Russian forces launched 147 attack and other types of drones, of which 111 were neutralized, while impacts were recorded at 19 sites and drone fragments fell at three points. At least two civilians, a man and a woman, have died in Zaporizhzhia as a result of the impact of a Russian drone.
These attacks come at a time when both Kiev and Moscow are increasingly betting on attacks in areas within the respective enemy territories. Civilian deaths are rising at an unprecedented rate for this conflict since its beginning.
