Russian overnight missile strikes on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, injured at least eight people and damaged civilian infrastructure as severe flooding hit Odesa, killing an entire family trapped in a ground-floor apartment.
“The night was hard for Kharkiv again,” local mayor Ihor Terekhov said, adding that Russian missiles damaged private houses, cars, power lines, and one of the city’s largest shopping areas.
“[Market] pavilions near the Barabashova metro station, covering over 2,800 square meters, were set on fire,” Terekhov said on Telegram on October 1.
At least eight people were injured in the attack, including an 80-year-old woman, according to local authorities.
“Despite the strikes and destruction, the city stands firm and continues to live,” Terekhov added.
The Russian attack used a combination of missiles and drones, and caused damage to at least three of Kharkiv’s districts, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said.
The overnight strikes on Kharkiv came a day after Russia hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in a rare daytime drone attack, killing one person and leaving dozens injured, including two children.
In his comments after the strike, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it “brazen” and renewed his appeal for stronger sanctions on Russia.
“Such strikes also demonstrate that the world’s sanctions on Russia must hit the aggressor much harder,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram on September 30.
He also urged Europe to build a defense against Russian drones and missiles, “so that no country stands alone against this threat.”
Zelenskyy’s call came a day before Denmark was set to bring together European leaders on October 1–2 for two summits on security and defense in response to recent drone sightings that disrupted air traffic in Copenhagen and Aalborg.
Meanwhile, severe weather caused flooding in Ukraine’s major Black Sea city of Odesa and the surrounding region. At least nine people were killed, including a child, according to the state emergency service.
Maryna Averina, the spokesperson for Odesa region’s emergency services, said that a family of five living in a ground-floor apartment was swept away by floodwaters and unable to escape.
Local resident Vitaliy told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service that almost everything in his apartment was submerged.
“There were 50 centimeters of water in the room… everything was afloat,” he said, standing in water in the hallway of the multi-story building.
Local authorities said rescuers worked through the night to assist residents, remove cars, and pump water out of buildings.
Regional Governor Oleh Kiper reported that some residents suffered from hypothermia due to prolonged exposure to the floodwaters.
At the same time, on October 1, videos posted on Ukrainian and Russian Telegram channels showed a huge pillar of smoke rising from an oil refinery in Russia’s Yaroslavl region, northeast of Moscow.
Regional governor Mikhail Yevrayev ruled out a Ukrainian attack as the cause of the fire, adding that residents “were concerned it might have been the result of an enemy drone attack.”
“What happened has nothing to do with that… The fire is of a technological nature,” Yevrayev added.
Kyiv has intensified its attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure, which appears to be causing fuel shortages and price increases.
