Editor’s Note: The number of casualties may change as more information about the attack becomes available.

Updated from May 19, 10:10 p.m.: Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov said that the glide bomb attack on May 17 killed three and injured 31 people.

Update from May 17, 8:35 p.m.: Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said that the Russian glide bomb attack on Kharkiv killed three and injured 27 people.

UKRAINE, KHARKIV, May 17 — Russia hit Kharkiv with at least two glide bombs at about 3:40 p.m., killing two people and injuring at least 19, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syneihubov reports. 

The glide bomb attack killed two men, both 45 years old. Among the injured, he says, are 18 men and one woman; their ages range from 20 to 60. 

Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second-largest city, with a population of 1.2 million, regularly targeted by Russian drones, missiles, and glide bombs because of its proximity (19 miles) to the border.  

On May 10, Russia began a new offensive in the Kharkiv region, trying to advance from two directions, within the areas of Vovchansk and Lyptsi. The border settlements of the region came under intense shelling and glide bomb attacks. 

Russian attacks on Kharkiv itself intensified since December 2023, when Russia started to actively exploit the Ukrainian army’s shell hunger and lack of air defense systems caused by the delays in foreign military aid.  

In March 2024, Russia destroyed the Kharkiv region’s entire energy and heating infrastructure. Now, it’s supplied with electricity from other Ukrainian regions. 

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