UKRAINE, KHARKIV, Sep 23 — Over the last three days, Russian attacks on Kharkiv injured 36 people, including five children.
Russia frequently attacks Kharkiv with various kinds of airstrikes because of its proximity to the border and frontline. On the evening of September 20, around 10:40 p.m., the Russian army hit three districts of the city, Shevchenkivskyi, Kyivskyi, and Kholodnohirskyi, damaging the building of the Kharkiv Regional Clinical Hospital. Fifteen people were injured in this attack, including children: a boy aged 10 and 17 and a girl aged 12.
“I don’t know what was the target for our enemy; that’s a central part of the city; a civilian hospital with civilian patients is nearby,” said Ihor Terekhov, Kharkiv City Mayor.
Dmytro Chubenko, spokesman for the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, reported that Russians used a modified bomb FAB-250 to hit the city.
Gwara Media journalists have been to the impact site and talked to the hospital’s patients. They say they didn’t realize what happened at the beginning.
“I slept near the window, heard an explosion—and then the glass fell on me, [my whole body] is injured,” the man with a bandaged head, neck, and hands says.
In one of the hospital rooms, there were traces of blood on the walls and furniture. Another patient said, “Anything could happen. I wasn’t injured, but my roommate was. The window fell on him. I saw another two injured. The entire hospital room is bloodied.”
On the evening of September 21, Russia launched more glide bombs at Kharkiv, hitting near a high-rise 16-stories apartment building in a residential quarter and injuring at least 21 people, including three children, a boy aged 17 and girls, aged 8 and 17.
“Eight people are hospitalized. A boy aged 17 and a woman of 39 years old have severe injuries,” wrote Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov in the aftermath of the attack. Other victims of the attack have moderate injuries.
Over 80 people have been evacuated from the building. Kharkiv mayor Terekhov said that the rescue operation is difficult because “some people are blocked in their apartments.”
According to the updated information from the morning of September 22, Russian bombardment heavily damaged 16- and 9-story buildings, blew out over 1200 windows, and destroyed or damaged 21 cars.
Oleksandr Filchakov, head of the Kharkiv regional Prosecutor’s Office, said to Gwara Media’s journalist that Russia launched three gliding bombs that hit the city of Belgorod, Russia. “Luckily, the bomb hit the tree that grew a couple of meters from the entrance [to the building],” Filchakov said. Only one impact site from the glide bomb, this one, has been discovered at the time of his report.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, commenting on the attack on Kharkiv on September 21, emphasized, “We have to boost our capability for better protection of people’s lives and safety. Ukraine needs [to have] full-fledged range.”
Stopping Russian airstrikes launched from across the border is one of Ukraine’s biggest challenges in the war because of restrictions on hitting military targets, e.g., jet launchers inside Russia with long-range strikes from weapons provided by the country’s allies, particularly the US.
Photo credit: Rescue operation in the aftermath of Russian bombardment of Kharkiv on September 21, 2024 / Denys Klymenko, Gwara Media
Gwara Media team has been to the impact sites to show you what Russian aggression looks like in our home city. Thank you for paying attention. Consider also contributing a small donation to support our reporting on Patreon, BMC, or PayPal. We are a Kharkiv-based independent media, and our readers’ contributions give us more opportunities to do our job well.
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