Russia-Ukraine war: A reported Russian missile strike at a residential building in Ukraine's Kharkiv area on Tuesday left 43 people, including 12 children, injured, according to local officials. A one-year-old and a 10-month-old infant were among the injured.
According to Ukrainian Prosecutor Andriy Kostin, a missile believed to be a Russian Iskander, landed at 1:30 pm (local time) in the town of Pervomaisky. where there are only residential buildings, BBC reported. He termed the latest attack as another war crime from the Russian side.
Pictures shared by Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Sinegubov showed smashed windows, an overturned car and dark smoke rising from the area where the missile apparently struck. "At least half of the neighbourhood is in an uninhabitable state," said Anton Orekhov, the chairman of Pervomaisky to local media.
The Kharkiv area was the site of intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces during the early stages of Moscow's invasion last year.
ALSO READ | Russia-Ukraine war: Russia says it foiled Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow
Meanwhile, Russian air defenses on Tuesday claimed that they stopped a drone attack by Ukraine on Moscow that caused one of the city's international airports to be temporarily closed.
The first known assault on the city since an unsuccessful mutiny launched 11 days ago by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was the drone attack, which followed previous similar raids on the Russian capital. The largest, albeit brief, challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in more than two decades of his rule came when his Wagner troops marched on Moscow.
Hanna Maliar, the deputy defense minister of Ukraine, stated on Tuesday evening that Russia was intensifying its shelling of Ukraine's northern border in order to maintain Ukrainian forces there. The Kremlin's forces have "refined (their) tactics aimed at slowing Ukrainian armored counteroffensive operations in southern Ukraine," according to the UK Defense Ministry on Tuesday.
According to the assessment, "Moscow has placed emphasis on using anti-tank mines to slow the onslaught," leaving the attackers at the mercy of Russian artillery, helicopters, and drones.
ALSO READ | Russia launches first drone strike on Ukraine's Kyiv after 12 days; all shot down
