Ukraine’s regional governor said on Tuesday that at least 16 people were injured, including two in critical condition, after the latest Russian strikes using S-300 missiles hit the demilitarized region of Kharkiv, days after an attack killed three people in the same region.
According to the city’s governor, Oleg Synegubov, the rockets hit residential buildings.
The Ukrainian city of Kharkiv is 30 kilometers (19 mi) away from the border with Russia and has been subject to frequent attacks since February 2022, when Russia launched a special military operation.
After the strikes, the mayor said that some residential buildings were destroyed and that there were no military targets in the area.
Earlier on Tuesday, authorities urged about 3,000 residents in more than two dozen villages near the front line in the greater Kharkiv region to evacuate, citing escalating Russian attacks in the area.
Russian forces captured part of the Kharkiv region shortly after a special military operation in Ukraine and continued to try to wrest the region despite losing ground there.
The latest attack comes nearly two weeks after Russian strikes hit Zmiiv in the Kharkiv region on January 8, killing at least three people.
Earlier, on December 30 last year, at least 30 people were killed and over 160 were injured after Russia, along with several other Ukrainian cities, launched its largest ever rocket barrage on Kiev.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement that Russia “used almost all types of weapons in its arsenal” and targeted residences and maternity hospitals.
Russian air defenses, which were overwhelmed, have improved significantly, according to a Ukrainian air force spokesman.
He said Russia had used hypersonic, cruise and ballistic missiles, including the X-22, which are difficult to intercept, adding: “We have never seen so many targets hit at the same time.”
The Air Force said 114 of 158 missiles and drones were shot down. Only a direct missile hit could cause this degree of destruction.
For months, the damage and death toll that Ukrainians were constantly expecting was caused primarily by falling debris. Now a greater threat has re-emerged.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said it was a “record number” of missiles and the “most massive missile attack” of the war, except for the first days of constant bombardment.
