KYIV – Ukraine’s eastern city of Kharkiv was the focus of a major Russian drone and missile assault on Saturday, resulting in at least three fatalities and 21 injuries, as reported by local Ukrainian authorities.

The attack, part of nearly daily broad-scale offensives by Moscow, featured deadly aerial glide bombs, which have become a staple in the intense Russian assaults during the ongoing three-year conflict.

Kharkiv’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, noted that the attack resulted in damage to 18 apartment buildings and 13 private residences. Preliminary reports indicated that Russia deployed 48 Shahed drones, two missiles, and four aerial glide bombs in the assault.

The intensity of the Russian attacks on Ukraine over the past weeks has further dampened hopes that the warring sides could reach a peace deal anytime soon days — especially after Kyiv recently embarrassed the Kremlin with a surprising drone attack on military airfields deep inside Russia.

U.S. President Donald Trump said this week that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, told him Moscow would respond to Ukraine’s attack on Sunday on Russian military airfields.

On Friday, Russian strikes hit six Ukrainian territories, and killing at least six people and injuring about 80 others, Ukrainian officials said. Among the dead were three emergency responders in Kyiv, one person in Lutsk and two people in Chernihiv.

Trump also said that it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” before pulling them apart and pursuing peace. Trump’s comments were a remarkable detour from his often-stated appeals to stop the war and signaled he may be giving up on recent peace efforts.