(Voice of Paul) – Ukraine said Russia struck the country’s second-largest city with missiles and bombs. Russian state media and local officials earlier reported that Ukraine attacked power plants and refineries with drones.
A Ukrainian rescue worker comforting a resident after what Ukrainian officials said was a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Sunday.
Russians Bomb Kharkiv, Ukraine Says, After Russia Reports Wave of Attacks
Ukraine said Russia struck the country’s second-largest city with missiles and bombs. Russian state media and local officials earlier reported that Ukraine attacked power plants and refineries with drones.
Russia on Sunday bombarded residential areas of Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, with ballistic missiles and powerful guided bombs, wounding more than 40 civilians, Ukrainian officials said. The attack came hours after what Russian authorities said was a wave of drone attacks against energy facilities across Russia, including an oil refinery in Moscow.
At least 10 explosions rocked Kharkiv, a city of 1.3 million situated less than 25 miles from the Russian border, local officials said, warning that they expected the number of casualties to rise as emergency crews raced across the city to various blast sites.
The attack on Kharkiv came less than 48 hours after powerful Russian guided bombs hit the city on Friday, striking a 12-story residential building and devastating a children’s park. At least six people were killed in those strikes, including a 14-year-old girl. Another 59 people were reported injured, with 20 in serious condition and some requiring amputations, Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv military administration, said in a statement.
In the attack on Sunday, Mr. Syniehubov said that a post office, a sports complex, a shopping center, stores and cars were damaged. “The enemy targeted only civilian infrastructure,” Mr. Syniehubov said. In a later statement, he said that at least 41 people were wounded.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not offer any immediate comment on the strikes in Kharkiv.
The city’s Palace of Sports, which features a 4,000-seat arena, was targeted by four strikes, Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee said in a statement. “The sports complex was destroyed,” the committee said.
Rescue workers searched for survivors in the rubble of the complex throughout the afternoon and into the evening.
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