Russian Guided Bombs Kill 6 and Wound 59 in Kharkiv, Including Three Children
Three bombs hit an industrial area and a block near a high-rise in the Slobidskyi district on Monday. Moscow says Ukraine launched more than 650 drones overnight, killing two people in the Moscow region.
Russian forces struck the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv with guided aerial bombs on Monday afternoon, killing six people and wounding at least 59, including three children, local officials said. It was the latest in a series of deadly attacks on Ukraine's second-largest city.
Three bombs hit the city's Slobidskyi district. One landed in an industrial area and another near a residential high-rise, damaging dozens of residential buildings, cars, a warehouse and a civilian enterprise. Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, first reported three dead, among them two men aged 62 and a man aged 35, and the toll rose through the evening as rescuers worked through the debris.
Among the wounded were an 11-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy with blast injuries, and a 15-year-old girl who was in shock. About 30 people remained in hospital, three of them in extremely serious condition, according to local authorities. Photos released by the regional administration showed firefighters climbing across a collapsed roof and smoldering debris at one of the struck buildings.
Kharkiv sits only about 20 miles from the Russian border, which leaves little warning time for glide bombs launched from aircraft over Russian territory. The weapons are Soviet-era bombs fitted with wings and guidance kits, and they carry far larger warheads than most drones or missiles that hit Ukrainian cities.
The attack came as the war's pressure on Russian soil also grew. Moscow said Ukraine launched more than 650 drones overnight, most of which it claimed to have shot down, and that two people were killed and nine injured in the Moscow region. Reports pointed to hits on fuel depots, though the details could not be independently confirmed.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian drones attacked two facilities at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and a person delivering food was killed, according to Reuters. No threat to nuclear safety was reported. A Russian drone strike also killed two people aboard a commercial vessel in the Black Sea, which then sank. Eleven crew members were rescued, the Associated Press reported.
The strikes follow Germany's announcement of new aid for Ukraine and a recent Russian attack on the Academy of Sciences in Kyiv, and they came as NATO's northern members raised alarms about Russian hybrid attacks. Lithuania's prime minister called for a firm alliance plan to respond to them.
In Kharkiv, officials said crews would keep searching damaged buildings and that the death toll could still change. Residents of the Slobidskyi district spent Monday night sorting through broken glass and wrecked apartments, a scene that has become routine in a city that has been under regular attack for years.
