A Friday morning Russian missile attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv in Ukraine killed at least one person and injured no fewer than 82 others, including six children.
According to emergency services, the strikes damaged apartment buildings, an educational institution and a business.
“This is how Russia began this Good Friday – with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, Shaheds – maiming our people and cities,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X.
Footages showed emergency workers giving first aid to people with bleeding wounds near one of the apartment buildings.
“Everything went flying in all rooms, the windows shattered. My husband died,” a resident Inna Khrystych said while speaking to reporters.
Another resident, Andriy Ponomarenko, said he and his wife were woken by the strike and rushed to find their four-year-old daughter amid the smoke and shattered glass.
“We first thought the blood was mine but turned out she got a cut by her eye,” he added.
According to Ukraine's foreign minister, Andriy Sybiha, Russia launched four missiles at Kharkiv, three of them ballistic and carrying cluster warheads.
“Russia is a terror machine. It will only stop if we confront it with true strength,” Sybiha added.
The mayor of Ukraine's second biggest city,
Ihor Terekhov, said the attack damaged 15 apartment buildings based on preliminary information.
It will be recalled that Russia and Ukraine agreed to a US-brokered moratorium on strikes against energy infrastructure last month, but both sides have accused each other since of violating it.
Ukrainian leader told a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday that in total, Russia was launching the same number of missiles and drones at Ukraine as before the agreement.
Zelenskyy further said that Russia has reduced the number of its strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities, but was attacking civilian infrastructure instead.
