At least five Ukrainian civilians have died in recent Russian strikes in the Kharkiv region. It is believed that 30 others were seriously injured. The attacks partially destroyed the city council building, Ukrainian officials said, Reuters reports. Russian forces hit the central district of the city using a ballistic missile, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram, citing preliminary information. A 15-year-old girl was among the wounded and three people were undergoing surgery after the strike, he added. Ukraine's State Emergency Service released a video showing bodies near the destroyed building.
Ballistic missiles typically strike targets in Ukraine's regions bordering Russia within minutes of being detected. Vitaliya Kliuchanovych told Reuters he was searching for two female relatives, aged 18 and 19, who had gone to collect documents from the passport service. Syniehubov later said both women - one of them pregnant - were among those killed.
"My relative and her daughter came here to get their documents and passports. My mother-in-law is now being treated in the hospital, her hand is injured. My brother called me and said I should come here to help and we went to the hospital but I couldn't find them in any ambulance ," says Vitaliya Kliuchanovych, a relative of the two murdered women.
"This brutality cannot be tolerated. Maximum pressure must be exerted on Russia - through military force, sanctions and diplomacy - to stop terror and protect lives," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on X, commenting on the attack.
Olena Bespala, a child protection worker, was at work when the attack occurred.
"The air raid alarm only sounded at the moment of impact. And then, a second later, there was an explosion, there were plumes of smoke and everything blew up," she says.
Ballistic missiles typically hit targets in regions of Ukraine bordering Russia within minutes of identifying the target areas. (A2 Televizion)
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