Russian strike kills father and three children near Ukraine's Kharkiv

A Russian drone strike killed four people, including three small children and their father, in a town west of Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday.

Russia attacked Ukraine with 129 drones overnight, the Ukrainian air force said, adding that of these 112 were shot down or neutralised.

According to the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office, a drone hit a residential building housing a family of five in the town of Bohodukhiv late on Tuesday.

"As a result of the strike, the house was completely destroyed and engulfed in flames, and the family was trapped under the rubble," it said on the Telegram messaging app.

The children's pregnant mother was rescued, the prosecutors said.

The family evacuated from a nearby village a few days ago, Ukrainian police said.

Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov, writing earlier on Telegram, said two boys aged 1 and a 2-year-old girl, died along with a 34-year-old man.

Kharkiv, which lies some 30 km (19 miles) from the country's northeastern border, and the surrounding region have been a repeated target of Russian air attacks.

Reuters could not independently verify the incident.

There was no immediate comment from Russia on the attack. Both Moscow and Kyiv deny they are targeting civilians in the war, which started with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

-Anna Pruchnicka, Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar/Reuters