At least 12 people, including a child, were killed as a result of bombings carried out on Wednesday night and Thursday morning by Russian forces in Kharkiv, the administrative center of the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine, the press agency reported on Thursday. Ukrinform reminds that six dead and dozens of wounded were previously reported, Agerpres reports.

War in Ukraine: Residential buildings in the city of Kharkiv were destroyed by Russian rocket firePhoto: SERHIY BOBOK / AFP / Profimedia

Russian occupation forces continue their massive shelling of Kharkiv after a devastating Iskander missile strike on Wednesday evening around 9:30 p.m. local time. The city was hit by rockets again on Thursday morning, just as a guest house was damaged the night before, and fires broke out in the places where the rockets fell, writes the Ukrainian Press Agency.

The number of victims is estimated at dozens, according to local authorities, at least 35, among them are children and elderly people.

“The most tragic moments in Kharkiv since the beginning of the war,” says the mayor

“Last night and this morning were the most tragic moments in Kharkiv since the beginning of the war,” said Ukrainian mayor Ihor Terekhov, making it clear that Friday will be a day of mourning in memory of the dead.

Located about 40 kilometers from the border with Russia, this second-largest city in Ukraine is regularly shelled by the Russian army, which has never been able to capture it. According to the authorities, hundreds of civilians were killed in the region of the same name.

An Iskander missile hit a three-story building, a former boarding house for people with hearing impairments, and now only a residential building, on Wednesday evening. Disabled people are among the rescued.

The building, partially destroyed by Russian bombing on Thursday morning, was a four-story boarding house.

Podolyak: “Russia wants to turn Kharkiv into Aleppo-2016, Grozny-1996 or Warsaw-1945”

Russia wants to turn Kharkiv into Aleppo-2016, Grozny-1996 or Warsaw-1945, Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, reacted to this on Twitter, quoted by Unian.

“Kharkiv. 175 days of horror. Daily terror, rocket attacks on residential areas and the civilian population. Russia wants to turn Kharkiv into Aleppo-2016, Grozny-1996 or Warsaw-1945 and is drinking blood live. Everyone who continues to do business with Moscow is complicit in this crime,” Podoliak claims in his post.

These Russian attacks in northeastern Ukraine, as well as in other parts of the country, took place before a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

  • Read also: VIDEO Kharkiv bombed by the Russians – at least six dead and 16 injured / Zelensky: “Despicable and cynical attack”

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