Russian guided bombs targeted residential buildings in Kharkiv on Monday, killing at least three people and leaving rescuers searching for possible survivors beneath the rubble, a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the city for resisting Moscow’s attempts to break it.
At least 29 people were hurt, including three children, according to the latest figures provided by local authorities.
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Mayor Ihor Terekhov said Russia attacked the northeastern Ukrainian city with at least three guided aerial bombs around 3 p.m. local time. The attacks hit the Slobidskyi district, damaging homes and setting warehouse buildings on fire. He reported three deaths at approximately 3:40 p.m.
People could be trapped beneath the rubble of a residential building, Terekhov said, as emergency crews carried out a search-and-rescue operation.
Regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said preliminary information indicated that a five-story apartment building had been damaged by a guided bomb.
A Russian drone also hit a gas station in Kharkiv’s Kyivskyi district during the afternoon assault. Authorities were continuing to assess the damage, and casualty figures remained preliminary.
The attack followed another deadly assault on the city late Sunday. Local officials said Russian weapons they identified as Banderol missile-drones killed one person and wounded six others in the Industrialnyi district, damaging about 10 apartment buildings.
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‘Kharkiv defeated Putin’
Hours before Sunday night’s attack, Zelensky praised Kharkiv’s residents during a joint news briefing with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Kyiv.
Zelensky said of Russian leader Vladimir Putin:
“He could not break them, even when the enemy was very close. He simply couldn’t.
“Honestly, Kharkiv defeated Putin. I am sure of that.
“For him, it is the symbolic ‘first capital of Ukraine.’ The people of Kharkiv have been remarkable – all our people have.”
Zelensky was referring to the city’s resistance to Russia’s efforts to bring it under Moscow’s control. He said Putin had underestimated the strength of its residents and described Kharkiv as a city of particular symbolic importance to the Russian leader.
Monday’s attacks underscored the continuing danger to civilians despite the city’s resistance.
Guided aerial bombs – commonly referred to in Ukraine by the abbreviation KAB – are aircraft-delivered weapons capable of precisely hitting their intended target with warheads large enough to cause extensive damage to buildings.
In the Slobidskyi district, the immediate priority remained finding anyone trapped in the damaged residential building while emergency crews responded to fires and assessed the destruction.