At least one person was killed and 18 others were injured Thursday morning while seven were killed and 20 wounded on Wednesday when Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv was stricken again by Russian shells.
According to the Kharkiv mayor’s office, at least four missiles landed in the city in the early hours of Thursday, one of which has stricken a three-story apartment building in Saltivka district, where it took the emergency services two hours to bring a fire under control.
Another rocket attack hit on a dormitory in the Slobidsky district, killing one and injuring another 18 people.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov stressed on his channel on Telegram that there’s no justification for striking Saltivka since residential buildings are not a military target, so he considers such attacks an act of intimidation and genocide.
Also on Thursday morning, the Russian Defense Ministry warned that Ukraine plans to carry out artillery strikes on Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which is under Russian control, on Friday and then accuse Moscow of causing a disaster.
Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov supported the claims with the detected movements of Ukrainian troops which indicate a looming provocation, pointing out that the troops Kyiv deployed trained in responding to the use of weapons of mass destruction.
Such troops are pre-positioned on site to report a radiation leak and demonstrate a purported action to mitigate, the ministry claimed, adding that the predicted attack should coincide with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ ongoing visit to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has informed that the International Atomic Energy Agency has accepted their invitation to lead a delegation into the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which has recently faced intense shelling.
Kuleba emphasized the mission’s urgency to address nuclear security threats caused by Russia’s hostilities though both sides are accusing one another of the attacks.