A Russian guided bomb attack on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv hit a residential building and a playground on Friday, killing seven people and injuring at least 77 more, local authorities said.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a 14-year-old girl was among the dead. Ihor Terekhov, the city’s mayor, had earlier said on Telegram that one child was killed in the playground.
The 12-storey apartment block caught fire as a result of the strike, the mayor said. The death toll from the attack climbed to seven when a woman’s body was recovered from the rubble, he added in a later statement.
About 20 of the injured were in severe condition, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
One end of the block was engulfed in black smoke, with many of the upper floors in flames. Several cars parked outside were gutted by fire.
Emergency services and rescue volunteers rushed to carry survivors out of the building. The body of one of the victims lay under a carpet on the ground outside, surrounded by police.
Residents of all ages, some of them covered in blood, sat stunned on benches and walls outside as medics attended to their injuries.
Kharkiv has been the focus of heavy Russian bombing throughout the war, although there had been a drop in intensity in recent weeks, possibly related to a shock incursion launched by Ukrainian forces into Russia’s Kursk region.
Source: CNA
