At least 2 killed, 13 injured amid Russian airstrikes in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - At least two people were killed and 13 injured on Wednesday in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region due to multiple Russian airstrikes that caused damage to infrastructure, including the office of a Swiss non-governmental organization.

“As a result of the latest rocket attack on Kharkiv, six townspeople were injured. They are provided with medical assistance,” Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said in a statement on Telegram following what he said to be a fifth strike on the city, located just 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Russian border.

A later statement by Terekhov said Russia conducted a guided bomb attack that struck a private residential building near the center of the city, resulting in two people getting injured.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov later reported on Telegram that the number of those injured had risen to three.

Earlier, Synyehubov also reported a missile attack on the city of Lozova, located close to 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Kharkiv, in which two people were killed and four others were injured.

Synyehubov said that a ballistic missile strike at 5:00 a.m. local time (0200GMT) hit the office of a Swiss humanitarian organization responsible for demining efforts in the Kharkiv region.

Russian forces have been attempting to breach Ukraine’s defenses in the Kharkiv region since early May, opening a new front in the over two-year-long conflict that was hitherto concentrated in the country’s east and south.

Clashes in the region have intensified since then, particularly near Vovchansk, located about 74 kilometers (45 miles) from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which has also been targeted by Russian airstrikes.

Russia claims to have seized control of multiple border settlements since the start of its offensive on the Kharkiv front, as well as other fronts, including Donetsk and Luhansk.