Kyiv: At least six people, including a child, were injured after a missile attack on the Kharkiv Regional State Administration building on Tuesday in Ukraine’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had shared a video of the missile attack and said, “Russia is waging war in violation of international humanitarian law. Kills civilians, destroys civilian infrastructure. Russiaʼs main target is large cities that are now fired at by its missiles.” In a later video, Kostiantyn Nemichev, the Head of Defense Staff of Kharkiv, showed the aftermath of the strike. Meanwhile, Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Russia was deliberately shelling cities, including residential areas and civilian infrastructure, to spread panic among Ukrainians, The Guardian reported. Podolyak said, “The veil has come down. Russia is actively shelling city centres, launching direct missile and artillery strikes on residential areas and administration sites. “Russia’s goal is clear – mass panic, civilian casualties and damaged infrastructure. Ukraine is fighting honourably.” Following the attack, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for more international sanctions against Russia. “Barbaric Russian missile strikes on the central Freedom Square and residential districts of Kharkiv. Putin is unable to break Ukraine down. He commits more war crimes out of fury, murders innocent civilians,” he tweeted. Earlier, the mayor of Mariupol said the southern post city was under constant shelling. “We have had residential quarters shelled for five days. They are pounding us with artillery, they are shelling us with Grads, they are hitting us with air forces,” The Guardian quoted Vadym Boichenko as saying on an Ukrainian TV. “We have civilian infrastructure damaged – schools, houses. There are many injured. There are women, children killed.” UNI RNJ
