Russian bombardment kills seven and injures 77 in Kharkiv on August 30
A Russian guided bomb strike on the north-eastern Ukrainian City of Kharkiv killed in total seven people and injured 77, including 18 children on August 30, 2024, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
Local officials say that Russians hit a playground and killed inter alia a 14-year-old girl.
Regional head Oleh Sinehubov said on Telegram at least 20 were in serious condition and some requiring amputations. He added that the strikes had been launched from Russia’s Belgorod region, which sits just across the border.
“These streets are exclusively parks with large gatherings of civilians. This is a residential building. This is, again, mass terror against our civilian population,” Sinehubov commented.
A Ukrainian writer, musician, and soldier Serhiy Zhadan posted on his Facebook that Russians killed 18-year-old artist Veronika Kozhushko.
“During the shelling of Kharkiv, Nika Kozhushko, a very young, sincere, and talented girl, was killed. An hour before her death, she sent her new drawing. In other words, her last drawing,” Zhadan wrote.
A 18-year-old artist Veronika Kozhushko and her last drawingMeanwhile, Russians struck the village of Cherkaska Lozova in the Kharkiv Oblast at 14:55 on August 31, 2024, leaving people dead and injured. A strike caused a house to catch fire, according to Sinehubov.
“Two women have been killed: one has been retrieved from the rubble, the other died in an ambulance. Ten people, including two children, have been injured,” Sinehubov noted.
Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor’s Office later reported that the number of casualties has risen to 11, a 14-year-old girl is among them.
“Two women, both aged 41, were killed in the village of Cherkaska Lozova in [Russian] shelling. Another 11 civilians sustained injuries, including a 14-year-old girl. Several residential buildings and cars were destroyed and damaged. A fire broke out,” the prosecutor’s office reported.
On August 23, 2024, Ukrainian rescue workers retrieved another woman’s body from under the rubble of Kozacha Lopan village council in the Kharkiv Oblast.
Viacheslav Zadorenko, head of the Derhachi District Military Administration reported that was second body of a 61-year-old woman retrieved at the site. He also reported that the Russians used artillery and FPV drones to assault the police, rescue workers, and local citizens working at the site.
“The invaders cynically hit a car of the funeral services company with drones during the evacuation of the bodies of the dead,” he wrote.
Three police officers suffered concussions and were taken to hospital. The State Emergency Service’s equipment as well as a Derhachi city funeral services company were both damaged.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy renewed his calls for all Ukraine’s international partners to allow it to hit targets inside Russia to prevent such attacks. His office said Moscow’s forces had fired more than 400 drones and missiles at Ukraine over the past week.
“This is an absolutely legitimate need. There is no rational reason to limit Ukraine’s defense,” he added.
According to the BBC News, Ukraine’s Western allies have partly withheld permission for it to use their weapons to strike Russian territory for fear of escalating the conflict.
The UK has allowed much of the equipment it has supplied to be used to hit Russia, though maintains an exception for long-range Storm Shadow missiles.
In May, the US allowed Ukraine to hit targets inside Russia, but only near the Kharkiv region and only to “hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them”.
It continues to refuse permission for strikes deeper into Russian territory.
To provide context, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, sits around 35 km (22 miles) from the Russian border and has been the target of frequent attacks since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
