Russia targets Ukraine’s Kharkiv region in deadly missile attacks
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Russia launched a wave of missiles targeting Kharkiv and nearby cities in the north-east of Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least seven people and destroying civilian infrastructure.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city with more than 1.3mn residents, has come under increasing Russian aerial assaults since Moscow opened a new front to the north of it earlier this month.
Russian forces have surged across the border and through some of Ukraine’s hastily built new fortifications to grab several towns and villages in the past fortnight. They are pushing into the town of Vovchansk and engaged in urban combat with Ukrainian forces, as police rush to evacuate civilians caught in the crossfire.
Ukraine’s national security and defence secretary Oleksandr Lytvynenko told the Financial Times that Russia’s goal was to create a “buffer zone” that would better protect the Belgorod region from attacks by Ukrainian forces.
It would also force Kyiv to divert resources and manpower from other hotspots on the 1,000km frontline. But the roughly 30,000 Russian troops taking part in the north-east operation would not be enough to take Kharkiv city, Lytvynenko said.
At least 15 Russian S-300 missiles hit the cities of Kharkiv, Lubotyn and Zolochiv during the day on Thursday, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov, who advised residents to remain in bomb shelters.
Vivat publishing director Yuliya Orlova told local media that a fire had broken out in the printing house where her company produces its books and that employees were probably trapped inside. “They are dismantling the rubble and rescuing people,” she said of first responders at the site.
Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said missiles also struck transport infrastructure and a utility company. Ukraine’s state railway company said its infrastructure had been damaged and several employees injured.
Local residents reported hearing several explosions during the attack. Emergency service workers were on the scenes of the strikes and tending to at least 16 people who were wounded.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the aerial assault was “extremely brutal” and reiterated his calls to western partners for more air defence systems and interceptors. Ukraine began running low on supplies this winter, when Russia stepped up air strikes on the country and the US Congress delayed a crucial $60.8bn military assistance package.
Some assistance from the US, including air defence munitions and artillery shells, began arriving in Ukraine last month just days after Congress finally passed the bill. Ukrainian troops have said this has helped them to restrain, but not yet stop, the Russian advances.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba took to social media platform X to call for the west to send more aid, as he shared footage of a mobile phone ringing from inside a body bag in Kharkiv.
“The sound you hear from inside the black bag is an incoming call that will never be answered because additional Patriots [American-made air defence systems] were not delivered to Ukraine on time,” he said.
“Deliver them now. I urge everyone who can influence leaders of their countries to make their calls today.”
Zelenskyy also showed his growing frustration over the Biden administration’s ban on using US-supplied weapons to strike military targets inside Russia.
“Russian terrorists are taking advantage of Ukraine’s lack of sufficient air defence protection and reliable capability to destroy terrorist launchers at their exact locations, which are close to our borders,” Zelenskyy said.
“We need more determination, especially from world leaders.”
Zelenskyy and Lytvynenko this week said Ukraine could have been able to thwart Russia’s new offensive in Kharkiv had it been able to strike their enemy’s forces across the border in advance.
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