Russian Air Strike on Kharkiv High-Rise Leaves Multiple Injured

Over 30 Ukrainian civilians were injured on Sunday after Russia launched an air strike on a high-rise in Kharkiv, the war-torn nation’s second-largest city, according to local officials.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said that at least 35 people were wounded in Sunday’s attack, which set fire to a 12-story apartment building. Terekhov said that a guided Russian bomb hit the 10th floor of the building and fire engulfed four stories.

Meanwhile, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram on Sunday that three children—aged 1, 4, and 12—were injured in the attack. The adult victims’ ages ranged from 33 to 86 years old, according to Syniehubov.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked emergency personnel who are rescuing people from the damaged apartment building and made a plea to the international community.

“The world must help us defend ourselves against Russian military aircraft and the dozens of guided aerial bombs that claim Ukrainian lives every day. This terror can be stopped,” he wrote.

The attack in Kharkiv came amid an exchange of drone and missile attacks between Ukraine and Russia as the war between the two nations continues to wage on for over two years.

Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday that it downed 10 of the 14 drones and one of the three missiles that Moscow launched overnight.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted 29 drone attacks that Ukraine launched overnight into Sunday over its western and southwestern regions and one Ukrainian drone Sunday morning over the western Ryazan region.

A Russian missile attack on the suburbs of Odesa killed a married couple and injured another on Saturday night, according to the Ukrainian Black Sea port city’s regional governor, Oleh Kiper.

No damage was caused by falling debris in Russia’s western and southwestern regions.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian government via online form and Ukraine’s foreign ministry via email for comment on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Zelensky has repeatedly asked his country’s allies, including the United States, to lift restrictions on the weapons they supply to Ukraine so that Kyiv can fire them deep inside Russia to destroy key military infrastructure.

Zelensky said in a separate X post on Sunday, “This week, the Russians have launched around 30 missiles of various types, more than 800 guided aerial bombs, and nearly 300 strike drones against Ukraine.”

He added: “Ukraine needs strong support from our partners to defend lives against Russian terror—air defense, long-range capabilities, support for our warriors. Everything that will help force Russia to end this war.”

The U.S. has allowed Ukraine to use American-supplied weapons in Russian territory but only in a limited area and only for the purpose of defending Kharkiv. Long-range U.S.-made missiles are not allowed to strike deep into Russia.

President Joe Biden met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday, with U.S. officials familiar with the talks saying they believe Starmer was seeking Biden’s approval to allow Ukraine to use British long-range Storm Shadow missiles for strikes deeper into Russia, according to the Associated Press.

Since the missiles are made with U.S. components, Biden may have to give the go-ahead to Starmer, with the officials who spoke with the AP saying they believe the president would be open to it, but no decision has been announced yet.