UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, Aug 12 — Over the past week, Russian shelling caused 17 fires in the Kharkiv region, killing two and injuring seven, announced Artem Astakhov, the Head of the State Emergency Service of Kharkiv Region, at a briefing.

Kharkiv Oblast comes under massive Russian artillery shelling and airstrikes often, even more so since Russia launched a new ground offensive north and northeast of the region in the Vovchansk and Lyptsi directions in May. Officials report over 6,500 hectares of forest in the region catching fire or burning down due to Moscow troops’s attacks. 

On August 6, Russian troops launched a missile attack on the central part of Kharkiv. The missile hit a residential area, injuring 13 civilians, including an eight-month-old boy. 

In addition, the missile attack damaged a medical facility, office and garage premises, a university dormitory, non-residential buildings, and 25 vehicles.

Emergency workers rescued five people and put out the fire in the destroyed building, which covered an area of 50 m2. The rescue operations lasted almost a day.

Also, on August 9, Russian troops conducted massive attacks from multiple launch rocket systems on residential areas of Kupiansk and nearby settlements, injuring three people. The shelling damaged high-rise buildings, households, and commercial facilities and caused fires.

On August 10, at midnight, the Russian Federation attacked the House of Children and Youth Creativity in the village of Zolochiv, Bohodukhiv district. The shelling set fire to the roof of the two-story building that spread over an area of 500 m2

In total, the State Emergency Service units put out 170 fires over the week.

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