Officials say a Russian drone barrage has targeted the center of Kharkiv, injuring nine people and damaging a maternity hospital in Ukraine's second-largest city.

Authorities said the boy died following a strike on a village in Kherson amid Russia's increased bombardment of Ukrainian cities.

The latest assault included more drones in a single night than Russia used in the entire month of July last year.

Between January and June, the number of Russian drone and missile attacks exceeded 23,000, a roughly 605% increase compared to the same period last year.

Hundreds of Russian drones and more than a dozen missiles rained down on the Ukrainian capital early on Thursday, killing two people in a second massive air strike on Ukraine in two days as Kyiv seeks critical aid from its partners at a meeting in Rome.

Russia launched its largest drone and missile bombardment of Ukraine overnight into Wednesday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In addition to the back-to-back, mammoth overnight strikes, other Russian attacks killed at least 21 civilians across Ukraine on July 7-10. In eastern Donetsk oblast, or region, Russian artillery shelling and drone attacks resulted in 15 civilians deaths,

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a summit in Malaysia as Russia continued massive strikes on Ukraine's capital.

The discussion in Malaysia follows Trump’s harsh criticism of Putin and pledge to resume military aid to Kyiv.