RUSSIAN DRONE STRIKE KILLS CHILD IN UKRAINIAN PARK

A Russian drone struck a park in Nova Vodolaha, in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, on Monday, killing a one-year-old child in a stroller, according to Ukrainian officials. Families with children had gathered there when the drone hit, officials said. “Unfortunately, two women and an infant who was in a stroller were killed,” Ukrainian official Ivan Vyhivskyi wrote on Telegram. Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said at least 15 people were wounded, including seven children. He said emergency medical teams were transporting victims to hospital, while officials reported damage to a nearby cafe.

Syniehubov initially reported six deaths, including three children. His later breakdown identified five people: three women and two girls. The United Nations said at least 328 civilians were killed and 2,105 injured across Ukraine in September, an 85% rise in casualties from the same month in 2025. Its monitors recorded casualties in 22 Ukrainian regions and Kyiv. In Kyiv, the UN recorded civilian deaths or injuries on 22 of September’s 30 days, its highest monthly frequency since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The UN put the verified civilian toll for the first nine months of 2026 at 2,570 killed and 15,211 wounded, a 59% increase on the equivalent period in 2025. Danielle Bell, head of the UN’s human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, said: “The first two weeks of October were among the deadliest periods for civilians in years.” US President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that Russia had not been “doing much” in Ukraine. Trump said he was working to negotiate a peace deal and blamed Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for standing in its way.