Russian missile attack on Kharkiv kills at least 5, sparks major fire

Russian missile attack on Kharkiv kills at least 5, sparks major fire

Five people were also reportedly missing after the X-59 missile struck a multi-storey industrial building in the region.

Medics evacuate a wounded man at the site of a Russian missile attack in Kharkiv on Wednesday. (AP pic)
KHARKIV:
A Russian missile hit an industrial area in Ukraine’s northern city of Kharkiv on Wednesday, killing at least five people and injuring eight while causing a major fire in a printing house, local authorities said.

The mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, said five people were missing after the strike.

The Kharkiv region, which borders Russia to the north and lies close to the frontline, has suffered regular drone and missile attacks during Russia’s two-year-old invasion.

The X-59 missile struck the multi-storey industrial building in the afternoon.

“The building houses production facilities and offices. This is an act of terrorism because it was conducted at a time when the vast majority of the people are at work,” Volodymyr Tymoshko, head of the regional police, was quoted as saying on a police account on Telegram.

“In addition to the five dead, there are another five who are missing,” Kharkiv’s mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram.

“We have identified them, but they are not among either the injured or the dead.”

Terekhov said the fire, which had spread quickly, had been almost brought under control at the site.

One of the reasons for the severe fire was that a printing house was located in the building, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov said.

A furniture and paint products factory also came under the attack, Serhiy Bolvinov, the head of the investigative department of the regional police, said.

Moscow denies deliberately attacking civilians in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine which it launched in February 2022, although many have been killed in frequent Russian airstrikes across the country.

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