A Russian bomb hit a building in Ukraine’s second-largest city, killing 3 people, including 2 teenagers

KIEV, Ukraine – Russian forces struck an apartment building in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, on Thursday, killing three, including two teenage boys, and wounding dozens of others, and carried out dozens of other attacks, continuing their withering assault in the country’s east. .

Regional chief Oleh Synehubov said one of the 12-year-old boys was fatally injured when a 1,100-pound Russian glide bomb hit the building.

“He was extracted from the rubble with serious head injuries and fractures,” Syniehubov wrote on social media. “Doctors performed resuscitation efforts for over half an hour. Unfortunately, the child could not be saved.”

Siniehubov later said that rescuers also recovered the bodies of a 15-year-old boy and an unidentified man from the rubble.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said at least 35 people were injured in the attack and others may still be under the rubble.

Russia is increasingly using powerful glide bombs to pummel Ukrainian positions along the 600-mile line of contact and hit towns dozens of miles from the front lines. Kharkiv, a city of 1.1 million people, is less than 20 miles from the border.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called on the United States to allow Ukraine to use American long-range missiles to attack air bases deeper in Russia used by warplanes carrying glide bombs. So far, Washington has authorized only a few strikes near the border.

Zelensky repeated his request on Thursday, posting a video showing the destroyed nine-story building, with at least three floors destroyed and the rest severely damaged.

“Partners see what is happening every day,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram. “And under these conditions, each of their delayed decisions means at least dozens, if not hundreds, of such Russian bombs in Ukraine. Their decisions determine the lives of our citizens. That’s why we must stop Russia together and do it with all possible force.”

Early Thursday, Russia also fired 10 missiles of various types at a bridge at the mouth of the Dniester, connecting the northern and southern parts of the Odessa Oblast, the Ukrainian Air Force said, adding that only two of them were intercepted. It was not reported whether the bridge was hit.

The Air Force said Russian forces also sent 43 exploding drones over at least nine regions of Ukraine. It said 17 were shot down, 23 were blocked and three flew away to Russian-controlled territories.

The head of Kiev’s municipal government, Sergei Popko, said debris from some of the drones intercepted over the capital landed in the Podil district, north of the city center, causing minor damage. According to Popka, there was only one day in October when Kyiv residents did not hear an air alarm. During the month, Kiev experienced an average of two air alerts per day, repelling 20 actual air attacks on the city.

In the east of the country, Russian forces continued their slow but steady advance, trying to take advantage of Ukrainian manpower and ammunition shortages. In Moscow, the Ministry of Defense announced the capture of the village of Yasnaya Polyana in the Donetsk Oblast, located on the road to the well-fortified Ukrainian fortress of Kurakhovo.

Ukraine responded with drone strikes on Thursday.

Authorities in the Russian-occupied city of Berdyansk on the Sea of ​​Azov reported a drone attack on the port early Thursday, saying three people were injured.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that air defenses shot down 21 Ukrainian drones over several regions and the Black Sea.

Zelensky, who has won the support of Ukraine’s Western allies for his “victory plan,” said on Thursday that the country was also working on preparing a bilateral document with Hungary aimed at “avoiding challenges” between Kiev and Budapest.

Zelensky, who made the statement during talks with leaders of territorial communities and districts of Ukraine’s westernmost Transcarpathia region, bordering Hungary, said the potential document would address Ukraine’s security issues and its bid for NATO membership.

“The wording is very delicate, which may allow us to start a dialogue with Hungary,” Zelensky said, noting that Ukraine would ask Hungary “not to block Ukraine’s invitation to NATO.” We are not asking for support or voting for us, we are simply not asking for blocking,” Zelensky added.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest partner in the European Union, has failed to show unity in confronting Russia over its war in Ukraine and has vehemently opposed Ukraine’s invitation to join NATO.