Ukrainian officials say dozens killed and more wounded in Russian shelling of Kharkiv

3 yıl önce

Ukrainian officials say dozens of people were killed and more wounded in the eastern city of Kharkiv on Monday morning after Russia launched a series of rocket strikes targeting Ukraineâs second-largest city with some of the heaviest shelling and street fighting since the invasion began Thursday.

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âKharkiv has just been massively fired upon by grads. Dozens of dead and hundreds of wounded,â Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko wrote in a Facebook post, Reuters reported. He referred to Russian BM-21 âGradâ 122 mm rockets fired from truck-mounted multiple-rocket launchers.

Why Kharkiv, a city known for its poets, has become a key battleground in Ukraine

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said earlier Monday that the exact number of casualties remains unknown. But he said he could confirm the death of one woman and that at least 15 Ukrainian fighters and 16 civilians have been wounded.

Authorities issued a curfew for the city beginning Monday afternoon.

Kharkiv, a city of 1.5 million people about 25 miles from the border with Russia, has emerged as a major linchpin in Russian efforts to push beyond the east and on to Ukraineâs capital, Kyiv.

Russian bombardments of the city started to accelerate Saturday evening. After days of fighting largely around Kharkiv, Russian forces briefly took the city Sunday, but they were repelled hours later by Ukrainian fighters.

âUkrainian forces have put up a pretty strong fight â¦ but the worst is yet to come,â Michael Kofman, director of Russia studies at CNA, a Virginia-based nonprofit research and analysis organization, told The Washington Post on Sunday. âRussian forces havenât [yet] tried to take Kharkiv, not seriously.â

He warned that after facing unexpectedly strong Ukrainian resistance, Russia was likely to increase its aerial campaign against Kharkiv, a densely packed city.