KHARKIV: A Russian guided bomb attack on Ukraine’s north-eastern city of Kharkiv hit a residential building and a playground, killing seven people and injuring at least 55 more.

Ihor Terekhov, the city’s mayor, said on Telegram one child was killed in the playground. Three people were killed in the 12-storey apartment block that caught fire as a result of the strike, he said.

About 20 of the injured were in severe condition, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

One end of the block was engulfed in black smoke, with many of the upper floors in flames. Several cars parked outside were gutted by fire. Emergency services and rescue volunteers rushed to carry survivors out of the building. The body of one of the victims lay under a carpet on the ground outside, surrounded by police.

Residents of all ages, some of them covered in blood, sat stunned on benches and walls outside as medics attended to their injuries. The authorities did not give the circumstances in which the two other people died in the strikes, which hit four areas of the city.

Kharkiv has been the focus of heavy Russian bombing throughout the war, although there had been a drop in intensity in recent weeks, possibly related to a shock incursion launched by Ukrainian forces into Russia’s Kursk region.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2024