RUSSIA, UKRAINE TRADE MAJOR STRIKES

PHOTO CAPTION: Vehicles burn after Russian drone strikes in the town of Pechenihy, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine in Kharkiv region, Ukraine August 18, 2026. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kharkiv region/Handout via REUTERS

Aug. 18 — Russia and Ukraine launched major attacks Tuesday, with a Russian missile strike killing 10 people in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region while Ukrainian authorities were accused by Moscow of sending 620 drones toward the Russian capital and surrounding areas.

In northeastern Ukraine, authorities said Russia struck a busy intersection in the village of Pechenihy, killing 10 people and injuring another 17.

“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,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on X.

Zelenskiy posted images showing a destroyed building, burning vehicles and emergency crews carrying people on stretchers.

“We will definitely respond to this Russian strike,” he said.

Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said the attack damaged 10 private buildings, a cafe, a post office, a store and at least seven vehicles. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said preliminary information indicated that two small Banderol cruise missiles were used.

A local official told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne that the strikes hit the central part of Pechenihy, where the cafe, post office and shops are located. Russia did not immediately comment publicly on the attack.

Moscow region reports massive drone assault

Separately, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Ukraine launched 620 drones toward Moscow and surrounding areas into early Tuesday, making it one of Kyiv’s largest reported aerial attacks on the region.

Russian forces shot down 180 of the drones over the Moscow region, Sobyanin wrote on Telegram. Emergency crews were working at crash sites, but he did not provide details on casualties or damage.

Moscow regional governor Andrei Vorobyov said drones hit a warehouse belonging to Russian e-commerce company Wildberries and other facilities near the capital. At least three people, including a 10-year-old girl, were injured in the region, he said.

Wildberries said drone debris struck a wall of its warehouse and caused minor damage.

Several other Russian-controlled regions also reported heavy Ukrainian attacks, including Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Krymenergo, Crimea’s largest electricity supplier, said southern areas of the peninsula came under Ukrainian drone attacks overnight. Several settlements lost power, and the utility said electricity supplies remained difficult in northwestern, eastern and southern parts of Crimea.

The two attacks came amid continued heavy cross-border strikes in the war, but the supplied reports did not establish that Ukraine’s assault on the Moscow region was launched in direct response to the Russian strike in Pechenihy.

(Source: Reuters)