Russia has increasingly relied on guided bombs delivered from a distance that pose fewer risks to its forces.
Russian guided bombs hit an apartment building in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, killing three people, wounding 29 and prompting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to ask for more help from kyiv's allies.
Images posted online showed parts of the building in ruins with broken windows, shattered balconies and debris scattered around a crater in the ground on Saturday.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko estimated the death toll at three dead and 29 wounded in the mid-afternoon attack. Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said two children were among the injured and four of them were in serious condition.
“This Russian terror by guided bombs must and can be stopped,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. “We need firm decisions from our partners that will allow us to stop Russian terrorists and Russian military aviation right where they are.”
Russia has increasingly relied on the use of bombs, which are relatively cheap, delivered remotely and pose fewer risks to its forces.
Syniehubov said rescue efforts continue. Other civilian targets were also hit and public transport was stopped. Mayor Ihor Terekhov said there were four strikes.
Kharkiv is located about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Russian border. The city of about 1.3 million people has been a frequent target of Russian attacks during nearly 28 months of war.
Target energy facilities
Overnight, Russia also launched a series of attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, wounding two workers, the second such attack this week, kyiv's Energy Ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine is struggling with a new wave of rolling blackouts after relentless Russian attacks on energy infrastructure that began three months ago wiped out half of the country's power generation capacity. In its eighth major attack on energy facilities overnight, Russia fired 16 missiles and 13 Shahed drones, the Ukrainian air force said.
With no major changes reported along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line – where a recent advance by Kremlin forces in eastern and northeastern Ukraine has made only incremental gains – both sides have aimed at infrastructure targets, trying to stop mutual attacks. ability to fight in a war that is now in its third year.
On Friday, Russian-installed officials said Ukrainian drone strikes hit two electrical substations in Enerhodar, the city serving the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the attacks exposed Zelenskyy's disregard for nuclear security and that Moscow would take action to stop the attacks.
“In view of the complete inability of the Zelenskyy regime to negotiate anything, our country will take all necessary measures to deny the Kiev regime all means to carry out such attacks,” Zakharova said on the ministry's website.
Russian troops seized the plant in the early days of the February 2022 invasion and Moscow and kyiv have since accused each other of endangering security around them. It currently does not produce electricity.
