Russia Strikes Apartment Block in Ukraine's Kharkiv, 3 Killed, 34 Injured

(Reuters) - Russia hit a high-rise apartment block and a bakery in Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv with guided bombs on Tuesday 24 September 2024, killing at least three people and injuring 34, with others feared trapped under rubble, authorities said.

Russian forces also launched a fresh attack further south on the city of Zaporizhzhia, the target of a series of strikes in recent days. Seven people were injured.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, writing on X, said of the Kharkiv attacks: "The targets of the Russian bombs were an apartment building, a bakery, a stadium. In other words, the everyday life of ordinary people."

The strike took place as world leaders, including Zelensky, gathered in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

"There is much discussion now at the UN General Assembly about collective efforts for security and the future. But we just need to stop the terror. To have security. To have a future," Zelensky said.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov, writing on Telegram, said the Russians had hit four city districts with guided bombs. Some of the bombs hit an open area and caused little damage.

Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said a seventeen-year old was among the injured. Four people were in serious conditions.

Images from the site showed a hole blown through the nine-storey apartment block, several floors of it totally destroyed. The building was hit directly, officials said.

Terekhov earlier said the building had previously been attacked by Russia at the start of its 2022 invasion.

"It was almost repaired, windows were installed, it was insulated, and prepared for the heating season. The enemy hit it a second time," Terekhov said, adding that the section of the building that suffered most damage was housing 82 people.

Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, and the surrounding region regularly come under Russian attacks. Moscow's troops extensively use highly destructive guided bombs that Ukrainian air defences struggle to intercept.

Russian forces also used guided bombs in their latest attack on Zaporizhzhia, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said.

Several private homes were destroyed in the strike and four of the seven injured were in hospital. One person was killed in an overnight strike on the city.

Kyiv, which is pressing allies to allow deep strikes into Russia, says the most effective means of reducing the attacks is to target not the bombs but planes and airfields hosting them.

Russia denies targeting civilians, although it has killed thousands during more than two and a half years of war.