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A 14-year-old girl is among seven dead after Vladimir Putin has unleashed a wave of glide bombs on Ukraine.
The dictator’s forces targeted a playground and an apartment building in Ukraine’s eastern city of Kharkiv today injuring dozens more.
Reuters
EPA
EPAThe teenager was playing on the playground when the glide bombs struck five locations across the city.
Horror videos show the carnage after the blitz as a blaze engulfed an apartment building and left the scene near the detonations a wreck.
Thick black smoke poured out of the apartment building and a nearby car with the blaze able to be seen from across the city
The State Emergency Service said 77 people were injured including 18 children.
Regional Governor Oleg Sinegubov said 20 were in a serious condition and some requiring amputations.
Sinegubov said the bombs were launched from Russia’s Belgorod region, just across the border from Kharkiv.
He said: “Let’s say unequivocally that there were guidance systems [on the missiles]. We draw one conclusion.
“These streets are exclusively parks with large gatherings of civilians.
“This is a residential building. This is, again, mass terror against our civilian population.”
In response to the attack, president Zelensky reiterated his plea to be allowed to strike targets deeper inside Russia.
He said: “We need strong decisions from our partners to stop this terror.
“We need long-range capabilities.
“We need the implementation of air defence agreements for Ukraine. This is about saving lives,” he added.
The strikes come just hours after Zelensky sacked the boss of his air force after an F-16 was shot down in a suspected friendly fire bungle.
Ukraine lost its first F-16 fighter jet of the war and a star captain after the high-tech plane was shot down earlier this week with a US Patriot missile.
War-ravaged residents of Kharkiv told The Sun in June they would never be broken by Russia’s bombardments.
Locals declared they will not be ground down by the daily bombardment of missiles and drones — a spirit epitomised by a sign in the outskirts reading: “Kharkiv Unbreakable.”
Scores have been killed and dozens wounded by the near non-stop airstrikes that have destroyed vast swathes of the city in the embattled north-east of Ukraine.
It has been in the eye of the storm for much of the time since Vladimir Putin’s troops first entered Ukraine in February 2022.
KURSK OFFENSIVE CONTINUES
Kyiv’s troops have now captured 100 towns in the shock surge into Kursk that caught the Russians off-guard, it’s claimed.
Military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi also said his men had seized nearly 600 Russian soldiers.
The Ukrainians claim to now control 500 square miles of the region in the biggest takeover of Russian soil since the Nazis invaded in World War Two.
Russian reports earlier in the week said Ukraine attempted a bold secondary invasion into the neighbouring Belgorod region.
Moscow claimed to have the Belgorod border “under control” but admitted it was “difficult”.
Pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Shot said the Ukrainians were pushed back but kept firing at Russian checkpoints.
Russia’s slowed response to the Kursk invasion comes with Vlad said to be reluctant to pull many troops from Ukraine as he tries to dig deeper into the country’s east.
But Putin has found another 30,000 troops to rush into Kursk, also appearing to call in reinforcements from Russia-friendly Belarus.
A worrying subplot to the fierce fighting in Kursk has been the fate of the region’s nuclear power plant.
The chief of the United Nations‘ nuclear agency this week flew in to inspect the site, which is located about 25 miles from the heat of battle.
International Atomic Energy Agency boss Rafael Grossi warned there is a “danger or possibility of a nuclear accident” that could cause “serious consequences”.
Heightening fears is the fact that the plant is not covered by a protective roof, meaning a strike on it could be devastating.
AP
EPA
English (US)