Russian Bombs Kill 6 in Kharkiv as Strikes Spread

Russia's deadliest strike of the day hit Kharkiv's Slobidskyi district on October 5, when guided bombs slammed into civilian enterprises and homes, killing six and wounding 59. It set the tone for a day of escalating aerial assault on Ukraine. Elsewhere the damage kept piling up. Russian drones knocked out power for roughly 14,000 consumers in Poltava region's Zinkiv and Opishne communities, a residential building in Zaporizhzhia was hit that evening, leaving a 63-year-old man hospitalized and a 37-year-old woman burned, and debris from an intercepted drone set two cars ablaze in Kyiv's Pecherskyi district. Poland scrambled jets in response, a sign of NATO's heightened alert on its eastern flank. The bombardment drew sharp diplomatic pushback. Britain's embassy condemned the strikes and threats against foreign diplomats, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the American embassy in Kyiv would stay open despite Russia's call for foreign missions to leave, insisting Washington would judge the safety itself. Zelenskyy discussed strengthening Ukraine's air defense with the Dutch prime minister. On the political front, Ukraine's European Solidarity party expelled MP Oleksii Honcharenko over disagreements on ending the war, while in Bucharest the president nominated a fourth prime ministerial candidate as the government crisis drags on.