On Thursday, a wave of Russian missile strikes hit several locations in Kharkiv, including a printing house in the regional capital, resulting in the deaths of seven people as Kremlin forces advanced.
Russian troops have capitalized on a weakened Ukrainian front line and have been progressing towards Kharkiv for the past two weeks. The region, initially captured by Russian forces earlier in the war, had been previously liberated.
All seven victims, at least five of whom were women, were civilians working for the Factor-Druk printing company in Kharkiv, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov. Sixteen people were injured at the printing house, located south of the city center, and another seven were injured in other areas.
Images from the aftermath showed the factory partially reduced to rubble, with its facade blown off. Factor-Druk is responsible for publishing around a third of the nation’s books and 10% of its newspapers, according to its website.
The Ukrainian state railway network was also targeted in the early morning, with six employees wounded, the company reported. A CNN team in the area witnessed two craters and smoke from impacts near a railway line.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the “extremely brutal Russian attack” on Kharkiv and the town of Lyubotyn, highlighting the vulnerability of Kyiv’s air defenses amid Moscow’s renewed assault.
“Russian terrorists are taking advantage of Ukraine’s lack of sufficient air defense protection and reliable capability to destroy terrorist launchers at their exact locations, which are close to our borders,” Zelensky posted on X.
Earlier this month, the US approved a $400 million package of air defense munitions and other weapons for Ukraine. However, senior officials in Kyiv have warned that this recent aid will not be sufficient to repel further Russian advances.