On 28 August 2026, a combat drone struck a fuel station in the Slobodskyi district of Kharkiv. According to official data, one person was killed in the strike, and the number of injured rose to five. At the scene, equipment was on fire, the windows of adjacent buildings were shattered, and the fuel dispensers were destroyed.

Timeline of the strike

At around 17:00, Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov reported on Telegram that a combat drone had hit the city. "The strike hit a fuel station — there is a fire at the scene. The strike on the gas station in the Slobodskyi district has left people injured," he clarified. The city head later confirmed that one person had been killed as a result of the enemy strike on the fuel station.

Update on the number of injured

Oleksii Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, progressively updated the casualty figures in his Telegram channel. He first reported two people injured by the strike on the Slobodskyi district, and at 17:41 revised the number: the number of people injured in the enemy attack had preliminarily risen to five.

Conflicting data

Different figures were recorded in the statements of officials throughout the evening. In his first message, Terekhov did not give a specific number of injured, limiting himself to the phrase "there are people injured," whereas Syniehubov first cited two people and then up to five. The discrepancy is explained by the fact that data were being gathered as emergency services worked at the scene; however, at the time of publication the exact number of the wounded remained preliminary. In addition, sources describe the morning attack on a shopping center and the evening strike on the fuel station as separate incidents, and their consequences are not summed together.

Context: a series of attacks on Kharkiv

The strike on the fuel station was part of a series of attacks on the city. On the morning of 28 August, according to RBC-Ukraine, the occupiers attacked Kharkiv with cruise drones, and a shopping center was hit. On 27 August, Russian occupiers struck the "Epitsentr" hypermarket in Kharkiv. On 26 August, the enemy attacked "Gazseti" facilities in two oblasts, with one employee wounded in Kharkiv Oblast.

Condition of the site and aftermath

Significant damage was recorded at the strike site: the fuel dispensers and electromechanical equipment were destroyed, the glass in the windows of adjacent premises was shattered, and the area is littered with debris and metal fragments. The fire at the fuel station, reported by the mayor, required the work of rescue services. Final data on the damage and any additional number of injured are being clarified.