UPDATE - 7 killed, 20 injured due to Russian missile strike in Ukraine’s Kharkiv

UPDATES WITH LATEST STATEMENT BY UKRAINE'S STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE; REVISES HEADLINE & LEDE; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - At least seven people were killed and 20 injured due to a Russian missile strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

"Kharkiv. The number of injured as a result of shelling increased to 20. Seven people died," Ukraine's State Emergency Service (DSNS) said in a statement on Telegram.

Earlier in the day, the DSNS said search and rescue operations in the city were ongoing, where 16 people were injured due to the attack.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on Telegram that the missile attack hit Kharkiv’s Kholodnohirskyi and Osnovianskyi districts, striking a local printing house.

bv Synyehubov further said that strikes were also recorded in the city of Lyubotyn, about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) from Kharkiv.

About the strike, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X that Russia launched 15 missiles at once on Kharkiv and Lyubotyn.

He argued that Russia is “taking advantage of Ukraine's lack of sufficient air defense protection” and capability to destroy missile launchers close to the border between the two countries.

“And this weakness is not ours, but the world's, which has not dared to deal with terrorists in the way they deserve for three years,” he noted.

Zelenskyy also said he is grateful to everyone who is helping Ukraine, but that they need “more determination, especially from world leaders.”

Russian authorities have not yet commented on the attack.

Airstrikes in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region have intensified since Russian faces attempted to breach the country’s defenses in the region on May 10, opening a new front in the over two-year-long conflict that is 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.

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