Missile Strike on Ukraine's Balakliia Leaves Three Dead, Multiple Injured in Growing Wave of Attacks

A devastating missile strike on the city of Balakliia in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region has left at least three people dead and a rising number wounded.

Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov first reported one fatality and eight injuries, including two children aged 12 and 14 and a 61-year-old man, The Caspian Post reports via Ukrainian media.

The explosion severely damaged several apartment buildings and vehicles parked nearby. Emergency crews were deployed immediately, and Syniehubov shared images showing shattered interiors and debris-strewn residential courtyards.

As assessments continued overnight, the casualty count increased. Vitalii Karabanov, head of the Balakliia military administration, later announced that the strike had killed three people and injured ten others, including children born in 2007, 2010 and 2011. Nine of the wounded have been hospitalized; one is being treated on an outpatient basis.

The attack occurred only hours after a drone strike disabled the city’s power grid, leaving Balakliia without electricity through the night.

The Kharkiv region has come under intensified fire in recent days. On 14 November, a police officer was killed after an FPV drone struck a police vehicle. Additional attacks have targeted the Kharkiv, Bohodukhiv and Lozova districts, involving guided aerial bombs, drones and other munitions.

Two days prior, Russian Geran-2 strike drones hit Kharkiv, injuring five civilians and damaging residential buildings, a civilian enterprise and several logistics warehouses. A pallet of books belonging to Ukrainian publishers was also destroyed in one of the strikes.

Local authorities say emergency responders remain at the scene and continue assessing the damage as the security situation across the region grows increasingly volatile.