Russian forces launched a missile strike on a residential apartment building in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, killing at least 10 people, including two children. The attack caused an entire entrance section of the five-storey building to collapse from the first to the fifth floor, trapping residents under the rubble. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov stated that among the dead were a primary school teacher and her second-grade son, as well as a 13-year-old girl and her mother. Sixteen others were wounded in the Friday assault.
Emergency crews continued to comb through debris on Saturday, with authorities warning that survivors might still be trapped. The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office said preliminary findings indicate Russia deployed the Izdeliye-30 cruise missile in the strike and has opened a war crimes investigation.
The strike on Kharkiv was part of a broader overnight assault, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claiming that Russian forces launched 29 missiles and 480 drones, targeting energy facilities in Kyiv and other central regions. Air defence systems reportedly downed 19 missiles and 453 drones.
Zelenskyy wrote on X that "there must be a response from partners to these savage strikes against life," calling on the European Union to strengthen Ukraine's air defences. Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa described the attack as "another massacre of children by Russians" on the same platform.
The attack comes as US-brokered peace negotiations remain deadlocked. Zelenskyy visited front-line positions near Druzhkivka on Friday, telling troops that battlefield strength would determine Ukraine's hand at the negotiating table. The battlefield picture has allegedly shifted in Kyiv's favour in recent weeks: the Institute for the Study of War assessed that Ukrainian forces have recovered 244 square kilometres in southern Ukraine since January, while Russian territorial gains in February hit a 20-month low. The institute also noted that Russian forces in the Kharkiv region appear to be regrouping ahead of a possible spring offensive, with fighting intensity having decreased in recent weeks.
Source: www.aljazeera.com