A Russian planning bomb hit an apartment building and a children's playground in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Seven people were killed and at least 47 were injured, local authorities said, as quoted by Reuters.
Igor Terekhov, mayor of the city, wrote in "Telegram" that a child died on the site. Three people lost their lives in a 12-story block of flats that caught fire as a result of the impact, he said. The authorities did not announce the circumstances under which the fifth victim of the attacks, which were carried out in four areas of the city, died.
About 20 of the injured are in a serious condition, said regional governor Oleg Sinegubov.
The block was engulfed in thick black smoke at one end, and many of the top floors were engulfed in flames. Several cars parked in front were also burnt to ashes.
Emergency rescue teams and volunteers rushed to the scene to help get survivors out of the building.
Kharkov has been the target of massive Russian bombing since the beginning of the war, although there has been some decline in their ferocity in recent weeks, possibly due to the shock of the surprise incursion of Ukrainian forces into the Russian border region of Kursk, Reuters notes.
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Ukrainian authorities said five guided aerial bombs launched from Russia's Belgorod region were used in today's attacks. These munitions are also known as "hover bombs" because they are equipped with a navigation system that guides them to their intended targets.
These types of weapons are difficult to intercept and have become a formidable element of the war in eastern Ukraine in recent months, capable of causing massive destruction.
Russia denies deliberately attacking civilians. Thousands of people were killed and injured after Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Immediately after the Kharkiv strike, President Volodymyr Zelensky made fresh calls for Western allies to allow Kiev to use long-range Western weapons to attack Russian air force bases.
"There would be no strike if our defense forces could use these capabilities to destroy Russian warplanes where they are based," the Ukrainian leader said in "Telegram". "There is no reasonable reason to limit Ukrainian defense," he added.
According to Kiev, the most effective way to counter these strikes is to attack the Russian planes, not the bombs themselves.