A Russian-guided bomb struck a multi-story apartment building in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, on Sunday, killing one person and injuring 42 others, Ukrainian officials reported. The attack has intensified calls from Ukrainian leadership for increased Western military support.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov confirmed that the fire sparked by the bomb had been extinguished. Among the 42 injured were three children. Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov initially warned that residents might be trapped under the rubble.
Prosecutors in the northeastern Kharkiv region announced on Telegram that the body of a 94-year-old woman had been recovered from the ninth floor of the damaged building. Syniehubov shared photos showing extensive damage to the top four floors of the five-story structure, with smoke and flames visible from shattered windows.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, used the incident to underscore Ukraine’s need for advanced Western weaponry. “Every Russian strike of this nature, every instance of Russian terror, like today in Kharkiv… proves that there must be long-range capability and it must be sufficient,” Zelenskiy stated.
The Ukrainian leader specifically called for decisions from the United States, France, Germany, and Italy to provide weapons capable of striking targets deep inside Russian territory, arguing that such capability could save lives by destroying Russian military aviation at its bases.
Zelenskiy also reported that three other guided bombs had struck villages in the Kharkiv region, an area frequently targeted by Russian attacks due to its proximity to the Russian border.
The Russian government did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the apartment building strike. Moscow has consistently denied intentionally targeting civilians, despite evidence of thousands of civilian casualties since the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
This latest attack comes amid escalating tensions between Russia and Western nations over the potential supply of long-range missiles to Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently warned that allowing Ukraine to strike Russian territory with Western-made long-range missiles would amount to direct conflict between Russia and NATO countries.
