Russian strikes hit Kharkiv hospital as Zelenskyy urges more aid defence

Russian forces launched a barrage of strikes using powerful glide bombs and drones against Ukraine’s second-largest city overnight into Tuesday, hitting a hospital and wounding seven people, an official said.

The attack on Kharkiv in Ukraine's northeast struck the city's main healthcare facility, forcing the evacuation of 50 patients, regional head Oleh Syniehubov said.

The attack's primary targets were energy facilities, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, without providing details of what was hit.

"Every day, every night, Russia strikes power plants, power lines, and our (natural) gas facilities," Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram.

Russian long-range strikes on its neighbour’s power grid are part of an annual campaign since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 to disable the power supply, denying civilians heat and running water during the bitter winter.

Zelenskyy again urged foreign countries to help blunt Russia's long-range attacks by providing more air defence systems for the country, which is vast and complex to defend from Moscow's daily air raids.

"We are counting on the actions of the US and Europe, the G7, all partners who have these systems and can provide them to protect our people," Zelenskyy said. "The world must force Moscow to sit down at the table for real negotiations."

The strikes on Kharkiv come as European military support for Kyiv has dropped sharply.

According to the latest data, foreign military aid to Ukraine plunged by 43% compared to the first half of the year, the Kiel Institute for the Study of World Economy, which tracks support to Ukraine, said on Tuesday.

That fall occurred after the creation of a fund that pools contributions from NATO members, except the United States, to purchase US-made weapons, munitions and equipment for Ukraine.

The financial arrangement is known as the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL.

In the first half of 2025, military support had exceeded what was sent between 2022 and 2024, despite the lack of US contributions, the institute said.