At least six people were killed and 16 injured in a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Wednesday.
At least six people were killed and 16 wounded in a Russian bombing raid on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, on Wednesday, local authorities said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned a “vile and cynical attack”.
Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov had initially mentioned a tally of three dead and ten injured on Telegram before regional governor Oleg Singoubov saw them on the rise.
A powerful fire at the crime scene
“Unfortunately, the number of dead and wounded as a result of the bombing (…) has increased: six people died, sixteen were injured,” Oleg Sinegoubov said on Telegram.
“There is a massive fire at the place of the strike in a residential building,” added Igor Terekhov.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told him that a residential building was “completely destroyed” during the strike. “A despicable and cynical attack on civilians that has no justification and demonstrates the attacker’s helplessness,” he wrote on Telegram. “We will not forgive, we will take revenge”.
Hundreds of civilians have already been killed in Kharkiv
The city of Kharkiv, about 40 kilometers from the Russian border in north-eastern Ukraine, has been regularly bombed by the Russian army since the invasion began in late February, but troops from Moscow have never been able to take the city.
According to the authorities, hundreds of civilians have been killed in the Kharkiv region since the beginning of the war. The Russian armed forces are currently concentrating their offensive on eastern and southern Ukraine.
Jeanne Bulant with the AFP journalist BFMTV