Russian bomb hits building in Ukraine’s second largest city

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces struck a residential building in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv on Thursday, killing two people, including a 12-year-old boy, and wounding dozens of others. persecuted them crushing attack in the east of the country.

Regional head Oleh Syniehubov said the boy was fatally injured when the building was hit by a 500-kilogram Russian slide bomb.

“He was pulled from the rubble with serious head injuries and fractures,” Syniehubov wrote on social media. “Doctors performed resuscitation measures for more than half an hour. Unfortunately it was not possible to save the child.”

Syniehubov later said rescuers also recovered the body of an unidentified man from the rubble.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said at least 35 people were injured in the attack and others were still trapped under the rubble, including a missing 15-year-old boy.

Russia has increasingly used powerful glide bombs to bomb Ukrainian positions along the 1,000 kilometer line of contact, hitting towns tens of kilometers from the front line. Kharkiv, a city of 1.1 million inhabitants, is located about 30 kilometers from the border.

President Volodymyr Zelensky did that has repeatedly urged the United States to allow Ukraine to use US long-range missiles to hit air bases deeper in Russia used by aircraft carrying glide bombs. Washington has so far allowed only a few attacks close to the border.

Zelensky repeated his request on Thursday and published a video showing the destroyed building, with at least three floors destroyed and the rest seriously damaged.

“Partners see what happens every day,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. “And under these circumstances, each of their delayed decisions means at least dozens, if not hundreds, of such Russian bombs against Ukraine. Their decisions are the lives of our people. That is why we must work together to stop Russia and do so with all possible force.”

Early Thursday, Russia also fired ten rockets of different types at the bridge at the mouth of the Dniester, which connects the northern and southern parts of the country. Odessa regionthe Ukrainian Air Force said, adding that only two of them were intercepted. It did not say whether the bridge had been hit.

Russian forces also sent 43 exploding drones over at least nine Ukrainian regions, the air force said. It said 17 were shot down, 23 were trapped and three flew back to Russian-controlled areas.

The head of Kyiv’s city administration, Serhii Popko, said debris from some of the drones intercepted over the capital fell in the Podil district just north of the center, causing minor damage. According to Popko, there was only one day in October when Kiev residents did not hear air raid sirens. During the month, Kiev received an average of two air raid sirens per day, repelling twenty air attacks on the city.

In the east of the country, Russian forces continued their slow but steady assault, trying to capitalize on Ukraine’s manpower and ammunition shortages. In Moscow, the Defense Ministry reported the capture of the village of Yasna Polyana in the Donetsk region, which is on the way to the well-fortified Ukrainian stronghold of Kurakhove.

Ukraine hit back with drone strikes on Thursday.

Authorities in the Russian-occupied city of Berdyansk on the Sea of ​​Azov reported a drone attack on the port early Thursday, saying three people were injured.

The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 21 Ukrainian drones over several regions and the Black Sea on Thursday.