Russian missile attack on Kharkiv damages Danish Refugee Council’s office, car  

UKRAINE, KHARKIV, Apr 24 — Russian night shelling damaged an office and car of the Danish Refugee Council, said the organization’s representatives on their Facebook. 

The Russian army launched three S-300 missiles on Kharkiv at about 00:57, injuring six people and damaging at least eight residential apartment buildings and office centers. 

Danish Refugee Council (DRC) reports that, because of the damage its office sustained, it is “forced to temporarily stop providing humanitarian aid in Kharkiv Oblast.” 

“Luckily, we’ve managed to get in touch with all DRC’s employees, none of them were injured,” DRC writes. They note that the escalation of attacks on Kharkiv “increases anxiety for the lives of civilians and civilian infrastructure in the city.” 

The Danish Refugee Council provides humanitarian aid to the vulnerable populations — temporarily displaced people — in the Kharkiv region and conducts humanitarian demining. 

The organization says that it’s deeply concerned for the lives of its colleagues amidst the Russian attacks as well, though states it’ll restart operations as soon as possible. 

“Humanitarian operations and workers are not and should never be targeted. We ask all sides of the conflict to comply with principles of international humanitarian law and refrain from attacks not only on humanitarian objects and employees but also on civilians and civilian infrastructure,” Julian Zakrzewski, the head of the DRC in Ukraine, says. 

The head of the investigative department of Kharkiv Oblast police, Serhii Bolvinov, also reports on the damage the DRC has sustained in the Russian attack. “It’s an organization that helps with humanitarian demining. There weren’t any military objects nearby,” says Bolvinov.  

Russia intensified attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city and a regional center, in March 2024. On March 22, the Russians completely destroyed Kharkiv’s heating and electricity infrastructure. The city comes under fire almost daily, while Russia is exploiting the lack of air defense and “shell hunger” in Ukraine caused by delays in the US military assistance. 

Read our photo report from the hit site of the Russian missile strike on Kharkiv on April 24: “Russians want to frighten us, make people leave the city.”