Tens of houses were destroyed when one or more Russian rockets hit the center of Kharkiv on Good Friday morning, writes Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in a post where he reports on around 70 injured, including five children, and one death.
"The number of victims is increasing every hour. Currently, there are 79," reports the mayor of the large and border-adjacent city, Ihor Terechov, via social media shortly after.
Cluster Accusation
Images show widespread destruction among buildings on the ground. Mayor Terechov is making accusations that Russia has fired several rockets equipped with cluster munitions, given the large area affected. Ground battles have been ongoing for a long time just a few miles from Kharkiv, along the national border, and Russia has regularly attacked the city with heavy long-range weapons.
In the city of Nikopol, artillery fire hit civilian residential buildings on Thursday. Two people were killed and several were injured, according to regional authorities there. Nikopol is located on the western bank of the Dnieper River and the river effectively forms a frontline in southern Ukraine, as Russian invasion forces control the eastern bank. The large and occupied nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia is also located there.
Further south along the Dnieper, in the city of Kherson, nine high-rise residential buildings were bombed on Thursday, according to authorities. Four people were killed.
Many Drones
Several civilian fatalities are reported from communities along the frontline in eastern Ukraine during a 24-hour period between Thursday and Friday, reports, among others, The Kyiv Independent based on official information.
The Ukrainian air force claims to have shot down several Russian rockets since Thursday, as well as around 20 attack drones.
