UPDATE - Ukraine says 21 injured in overnight Russian airstrike on Kharkiv

UPDATES WITH STATEMENT FROM UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - At least 21 people were injured in an overnight Russian airstrike in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv on Sunday, local authorities said.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on Telegram that two guided bombs hit 16- and 9-floor buildings in the city’s Shevchenkivskyi district.

The injured included women and children, he said.

“As of now, eight people have been hospitalized. Two (a 17-year-old boy and a 39-year-old woman) are in serious condition. (Condition of) others are of moderate severity,” Synyehubov said.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said that 68 people were evacuated from the 16-story building that had been hit, adding that 44 of its personnel are participating in search and rescue efforts.

"We need to strengthen our capabilities to better protect lives and ensure safety. Ukraine needs full long-range capabilities, and we are working to convince our partners of this," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Air Force claimed that its air defenses downed 71 out of 80 drones launched by Russia.

Claiming that Russia also launched two Kh-59/69 guided missiles, Ukraine’s Air Force said that the country’s air defenses worked over the Khmelnytskyi, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Sumy, Poltava, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.

Russian authorities have not yet commented on the incident or the claims.

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.