Yesterday afternoon, Ukrainian citizens reported that the Russian troops had started bombarding the city of Kharkiv, which is about 50 km from the Russian border, again. The Russian artillery was mostly directed at suburban homes and buildings. At least nine people are said to have lost their lives in the fire.
On a Telegram notice, Igor Terekhov, Mayor of Kharkiv, said: “Russian shelling of Kharkiv killed nine civilians.”
“A five-month-old baby died, as did his father. The mother was seriously injured and 19 civilians were injured.”
Before the war, about 1.5 million people lived in the city. Since last week, it had begun to return to a state of somewhat normality after Ukrainian defenders successfully pushed the Russian invaders out. Russian forces had ceased their offensive on the city, concentrating their troops in eastern and southern Ukraine, which allowed the region to reopen public transport and go back to normal.
However, it is now under Russian attack one more time. Yesterday morning, the air raid signal sounded 7 times in the region of Kharkiv. At around 3 in the afternoon, the military gave notice to the population of the threat of shelling in the city.
On 25 May, the Russian troops fired on civilians in Balaklia in the Kharkiv region, killing one elderly man and injuring a 9-year-old girl. During that day, the Russians fired ten times at settlements in Kharkiv.
The district of Pavlové Polé, in the center-north of Kharkiv, suffered a bombarding to its residential area, where a young man was killed, and four other people were seriously injured. The Shevchenkivskyi and Kyivskyi districts were also hit. The Russians are believed to be opening fire from the territory of Belgorod Oblast in Russia.
Mayor Igor Terekhov warned residents to seek refuge in a video he posted on Telegram. “Enemy troops are shelling our city again,” he communicated. “I ask you to stay in safe places, cellars, shelters, and metro stations.”
Head of the Kharkiv Regional Civil-Military Administration, Oleh Syniehubov explained that the Russian troops are targeting residential areas to terrorize the citizens.
“When the shelling started, a young family was walking in the street: a wife and a man who had a 5-month-old baby in his arms. The man died immediately; the woman was hospitalized in critical condition. Later, Kharkiv Oblast Police found the child’s body. The baby was thrown upwards by the explosion from the father’s hands onto the roof of the building entrance,” he said.
He also described the artillery used:
“The enemy shelled with MLRS Smerch and Uragan and with artillery, modification of which is being established now by our military experts. According to the available data, the shelling was conducted from the North of the Oblast, where our troops are holding their positions and slowly pushing the enemy away to the borders. This was a solely residential area, so the aim of this shelling could only be terrorizing the local residents,” he said.
Syniehubov added that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are pursuing the occupiers: “Fierce fighting continues in the north, northeast and on the Izium front. Russian troops are suffering heavy losses.”
