At least 73 injured as Russia bombs Ukrainian hospital and power plants

Russia has bombed a hospital in Kharkiv, injuring at least 73 people, while also carrying out several attacks on energy infrastructure across multiple Ukrainian regions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X that “the Russians directly struck a city clinical hospital. Seventy-three people were injured, and the cardiology department, where people were receiving treatment, was damaged.”

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov confirmed on Telegram that the hospital sustained heavy damage in Monday night’s bombardment, with more than 1,000 windows shattered.

Separately, Ukrainian energy sites were hit, including in Kharkiv, in what President Zelenskyy described as a “complex, massive attack”.

“The main target was energy – power generation facilities and substations – in the Odesa, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv, and Rivne regions,” he said in a post on X.

Zelenskyy added that Russia had launched 289 attack drones overnight, as well as 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles. This comes a day after at least 29 people were killed in a Russian strike on an aid distribution centre.

The Russian Ministry of Defence said it had targeted electricity facilities in the Vinnytsia, ⁠Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions. In its statement, it said the sites supplied power to the Ukrainian army and military factories.

More than 180,000 people were without power in the Zhytomyr ⁠region on Tuesday morning after Russian attacks, Governor Vitalii Bunechko said. Odesa has implemented scheduled power outages in response to the attacks.

Meanwhile, two employees at a Russian oil refinery in Yaroslavl were injured during a Ukrainian drone attack that caused a fire at the site, according to Governor Mikhail Yevrayev.

The latest exchange of attacks comes as the United States ramps up efforts to end the war, with a meeting between US, Russian and Ukrainian officials due to take place in Abu Dhabi next week. US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said in a post on X late on Monday that the discussions would focus on “post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts, and next steps toward peace”.

Witkoff added that US negotiators would meet with representatives from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO in Brussels this week. He said the talks would focus on security guarantees for Ukraine, Europe’s post-war security architecture and economic opportunities to support Ukraine’s reconstruction.

This comes as global attention turns to Tuesday’s midterm elections in the US. Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Audrey MacAlpine said these were arguably the most important elections in recent years for Ukrainians.

“Since the Trump administration took office and the House and Senate flipped Republican, there have been no significant military aid packages for Ukraine. In comparison, Biden, during the early years of the war, you were looking at $60b in military aid for Ukraine,” MacAlpine said.

“Europe has largely filled that gap but certainly Ukraine would like to resume that aid from the US. That’s been at the top of President Zelenskyy’s agenda for over six months now,” she added.