UKRAINE, KHARKIV REGION, JUNE 3 — The number of victims of Russian attacks increased during the spring of 2024, reports Suspilne Kharkiv, a regional outlet for Ukraine’s public broadcaster. 

According to data provided by Kharkiv Oblast local authorities and emergency services collected by journalists, Russian attacks killed 160 residents of the region and injured 788. 

Russia’s attacks on the region intensified due to its new offensive: Russian troops broke through north and northeast of the region, in the directions of Lyptsi and Vovchansk, on May 10. The city of Vovchansk, which is about five miles away from the state’s border, was almost completely demolished by Russian glide bombs in a week. Over 11,000 people were evacuated from the border settlements of the region. 

Field report: Threat of reoccupation looms over Vovchansk as Russia launches new offensive on Kharkiv region. Gwara Media joined the evacuation mission on May 11 to talk to people who were leaving Vovchansk in the wake of the Russian assault on the city.  

In May, Russian attacks on Kharkiv and Kharkiv Oblast killed 106 and injured 543 people. In April, they killed 30 people and injured 148. In March, the month when Russia also almost completely destroyed the Kharkiv region’s energy infrastructure, the Russian army’s strikes killed 97 people. 

Journalists note that this data might be incomplete, as they’ve included only information from publicly available Ukrainian sources. 

The number of victims of Russian aggression increased significantly, Suspilne Kharkiv notes. In the autumn of 2023, Russians killed 97 people and injured 155 in the region. This winter, they killed 74 people and injured 340. 

On May 23, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russians are able to attack Ukraine because the country still has restrictions in its defense. Since then, representatives of many countries said Ukraine is allowed to hit Russian launchers with the military equipment provided by them. 

Russian bombardment of a hypermarket in Kharkiv had one of the highest death tolls since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Glide bombs Russians dropped on “Epicenr” on May 25 killed 18 people and injured 48. 

In total, Russia has attacked Kharkiv with missiles, glide bombs, or drone strikes 1,700 times since January 2024, Oleh Syniehubov told Ukrainska Pravda in an interview published on May 25. More than 230 of them were missile attacks. 

On May 31, The Washington Post and Reuters wrote, citing anonymous American officials, that Joe Biden has allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory to protect Kharkiv Oblast. 

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