Girl, 14, among six killed by Russian attack on Kharkiv as 55 more injured, Ukrainian officials say
A 14-year-old girl was killed in a Russian attack on Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials have said.
At least six people were killed in all, as a 12-storey building was hit alongside a playground, in the industrial district.
The Russian-guided bomb attack in the northeastern city also left 55 people injured.
About 20 of the injured were in severe condition, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
“Occupiers killed a child right on the playground,” Ihor Terekhov, the city’s mayor, said on Telegram.
Ukraine’s second-largest city has long been a target for Russia, ever since its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Cars burn after a Russian air strike in Kharkiv.
Pic: Reuters
Paramedics carry a person rescued from an apartment building after a Russian air strike in Kharkiv.
Pic: Reuters
An apartment building burns after a Russian air strike in Kharkiv.
Pic: Reuters
Elsewhere in the war in Ukraine:
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has renewed calls to Western allies to allow long-range attacks on Russia
• Mr Zelenskyy also sacked Ukraine’s air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk, according to a presidential decree
• A Ukrainian F-16 pilot was shot down in friendly fire, an MP has claimed
• In the Kursk incursion, Ukraine’s top commander claimed his forces advanced 2km in the past 24 hours
• Russian forces have taken control of more settlements in eastern Ukraine, according to state media
• European Union defence ministers agreed to boost their training programme for Ukrainian troops
• A Russian newspaper publisher was sentenced to eight years after reporting on Moscow’s attacks on Ukraine, according to rights activists
• And the Kremlin insists it has “no worries” as President Vladimir Putin visits Mongolia, a country that is a member of the International Criminal Court, which last year issued a warrant for his arrest
Video from the site of the Kharkiv attack, shared by Mr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, showed huge flames and black smoke rising from the upper floors of the building.
In light of the attack, the Ukrainian president renewed his calls to Western allies to allow him to use their weapons in long-range attacks on Russia.
“A strike … would not have happened if our defence forces had the ability to destroy Russian military aircraft where they are based. We need strong decisions from our partners to stop this terror,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
Firefighters rescue a girl from the residential building hit in Kharkiv. Pic: Reuters
Ukrainian authorities said Friday’s attack involved five aerial-guided bombs launched from planes in Russia’s Belgorod region.
The US ambassador to Ukraine described the Kharkiv attack as a “war crime” and called for Russia to be held accountable.
Ukrainian F-16 pilot ‘killed by friendly fire’
A Ukrainian F-16 pilot was killed by friendly fire, an MP has claimed.
The commander of Ukraine’s air force criticised the comments, made by Ukrainian MP Mariana Bezuhla, and US experts have joined the investigation to try and find out what happened.
Lieutenant Colonel Oleksiy Mes was killed while defending Ukraine’s skies from a huge Russian aerial attack at the start of the week.
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Ms Bezuhla claimed his jet was shot down by a US-supplied Patriot missile.
In response, air force commander Mykola Oleschuk said her words were a “tool to discredit the top military leadership”.
But, the air force did not directly deny that the F-16 was hit by a Patriot missile.
This is the highest stakes diplomacy via social media.
The American president just posted on his Truth Social platform: “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding.
“He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers.
“Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Israel-Iran live: Trump says US knows where Iran’s supreme leader is ‘hiding’
It was followed minutes later by “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
In real-time, we are witnessing Donald Trump’s extreme version of maximum pressure diplomacy.
He’d probably call it the ‘art of the deal’, but bunker busters are the tool, and it comes with such huge consequences, intended and unintended, known and unknown.
Read more:
The bunker buster bomb which could destroy Iran’s nuclear ambitions
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Nuclear sites targeted in Iran
There is intentional ambiguity in the president’s messaging. His assumption is that he can apply his ‘art of the deal’ strategy to a deeply ideological geopolitical challenge.
It’s all playing out publicly. Overnight, the New York Times, via two of its best-sourced reporters, had been told that Mr Trump is weighing whether to use B-2 aircraft to drop bunker-busting bombs on Iran’s underground nuclear facilities.
Meanwhile, Axios was reporting that a meeting is possible between Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi.
The reporting came just as Mr Trump warned “everyone in Tehran to evacuate”. The nuclear sites being threatened with bunker busters are not in Tehran, but Trump’s words are designed to stoke tension, to confuse and to apply intense pressure.
His actions are too. He left the G7 in Canada early and asked his teams to gather in the White House Situation Room.
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Trump: ‘I want an end, not a ceasefire’
This is a game of smoke, mirrors, brinkmanship and – maybe – bluff. In Tehran, what’s left of the leadership is watching and reading closely as they consider what’s next.
Maybe the Supreme Leader and his regime’s days are numbered. Things remain very unpredictable.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
From history, though, regime change, even when it comes with a plan – and there is certainly not one here, spells civil war and from that comes a refugee crisis.
These are truly tense and chaotic times.
World
Ukraine war: 14 killed as Russian missile and drone attacks strike Kyiv – including American citizen
Russian missile and drone attacks have killed 14 people in Kyiv overnight, according to Ukrainian officials.
A 62-year-old US citizen who suffered shrapnel wounds is among the dead.
At least 99 others were wounded in strikes that hollowed out a residential building and destroyed dozens of apartments.
Pic: AP
Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble.
Images show a firefighter was among those hurt, with injured residents evacuated from their homes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as “one of the most terrifying attacks on Kyiv” – and said Russian forces had fired 440 drones and 32 missiles as civilians slept in their homes.
“[Putin] wants the war to go on,” he said. “It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it.”
Pic: AP
Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said 27 locations across the capital have been hit – including educational institutions and critical infrastructure.
He claimed the attack, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was one of the largest on the capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Drones swarmed over the city, with an air raid alert remaining in force for seven hours.
One person was killed and 17 others injured as a result of separate Russian drone strikes in the port city of Odesa.
Pic: Reuters
It comes as the G7 summit in Canada continues, which Ukraine’s leader is expected to attend.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold talks with Donald Trump – but the president has announced he is unexpectedly returning to Washington because of tensions in the Middle East.
Ukraine’s foreign minister says Moscow’s decision to attack Kyiv during the summit is a signal of disrespect to the US.
Moscow has launched a record number of drones and missiles in recent weeks, and says the attacks are in retaliation for a Ukrainian operation that targeted warplanes in airbases deep within Russian territory.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko says fires broke out in two of the city’s districts as a result of debris from drones shot down by the nation’s air defences.
Read more from Sky News:
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US-UK trade deal is ‘done’, Donald Trump says
Pic: AP
On X, Ukraine’s foreign ministry wrote: “Russia’s campaign of terror against civilians continues. Its war against Ukraine escalates with increased brutality.
“The only way to stop Russia is tighter pressure – through sanctions, more defence support for Ukraine, and limiting Russia’s ability to keep sowing war.”
Olena Lapyshnak, who lived in one of the destroyed buildings, said: “It’s horrible, it’s scary, in one moment there is no life. I can only curse the Russians, that’s all I can say. They shouldn’t exist in this world.”
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