By Burc Eruygur
ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine said on Tuesday that at least three people were killed and over 30 injured due to a Russian airstrike on the country’s northeastern city of Kharkiv.
“Another Russian strike on Kharkiv… So far, we know of 3 killed and 24 injured,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X.
Saying the Russian strike targeted an apartment building, a bakery and a stadium, Zelenskyy added that search and rescue operations are underway in the city.
In a later statement, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on Telegram that the number of those injured rose to 31.
Elsewhere, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said that the building in the city’s Kyivskyi district was previously hit at the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.
“It was almost repaired, all the windows were put in, insulated, and prepared for the heating season,” Terekhov said on Telegram.
He went on to claim that Russia fired eight guided bombs, adding that 82 people lived in the most affected section of the damaged apartment building.
“We call on our partners to provide more air defence systems and missiles. We are counting on the courage to allow us to attack military targets in enemy territory with Western weapons. This is crucial to protect the people,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal also said on X.
Russian authorities have not yet commented on the strike.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, located about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the Russian border, has been regularly targeted by airstrikes, which have increased as Russia attempts to breach Ukraine’s defenses in the broader region since early May.
The Russian offensive in the northeastern region opened a new front in the over two-year-long conflict that was hitherto concentrated in the country’s east and south.