UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, Aug 21 — At about 1:00 p.m., the Russian army attacked the village of Kozacha Lopan in the Kharkiv region with artillery, hitting a building of village council and trapping three people under the rubble, Oleksandr Kulik, a spokesman for the Derhachi City Council, told Gwara Media.

Towns and villages of the Kharkiv Oblast come under massive Russian artillery shelling and air strikes 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.

According to Oleksandr Kulik, representatives of the State Emergency Service (SES) continue to work at the hit site, and the rescue operation is ongoing.

“Part of the administrative building was destroyed. There is information about people being under the rubble. So far, we know about three people under the rubble,” said Kulik.

At 4:50 p.m., Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of Kharkiv region, reported that rescuers pulled one woman out of the rubble. She had light injuries. 

Oleh Syniehubov said that in six months, Russian attacks in the Kharkiv region have killed 293 people, including 15 children.

On August 9, the UN released a report on civilian casualties in the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war. According to their data, in July 2024, Russian attacks killed at least 219 Ukrainian civilians and injured 1,018. This is the highest death toll since October 2022.

According to the UN, a large-scale Russian attack across Ukraine on July 8 killed at least 43 civilians, including five children, and injured 147, including seven children, in cities of Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, and the Kyiv Oblast.

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  • The Russians shelled the village of Prykolote, killing two people and injuring six others. The shelling also caused furniture, structural elements, and the roof of the warehouse building to catch fire, reported Oleh Syniehubov, governor of Kharkiv Oblast.