Over 20 people wounded after Russia strikes apartment blocks in Ukraine’s Kharkiv

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian strikes hit high-rise apartment blocks in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, leaving dozens wounded in a second consecutive nighttime attack this week.

The bombs fell Saturday night on the district of Shevchenkivsky, in Ukraine’s northeast, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said. Residential 16 and 9-storied buildings were destroyed, and seven more buildings were damaged, he added.

Twenty-one people were wounded, including an eight-year-old, two 17-year-olds and several older adults, according to Syniehubov and Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov.

The attack came after another late Friday that wounded 15 people, including a 10- and 12-year-old, as Russian airstrikes hit three Kharkiv neighborhoods, Terekhov said.

According to Ukrainian officials, KAB-type aerial glide bombs were used in both attacks, a retrofitted Soviet weapon that has for months laid waste to eastern Ukraine.

Russia also launched 80 Shahed drones and two missiles at Ukraine overnight into Sunday, the Ukrainian air force said in an online statement. Ukrainian air defense shot down 71 drones, and another six were lost on location due to electronic warfare countermeasures, the statement said.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022