Chief emergency worker among two killed in Kharkiv Oblast

Russian attacks on the village of Budy in Kharkiv Oblast injured 25 people and killed two, including the oblast’s chief emergency worker, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry reported on July 13.

A missile hit the village, located less than 15 kilometers southwest of Kharkiv city, in the afternoon.

Half an hour after emergency workers arrived at the scene, Russian troops launched a second attack on the same location, Artem Kostyria, head of the State Emergency Situations Service's branch in Kharkiv Oblast, and police sergeant Oleksiy Koshchii.

“The terrorists cynically and purposefully struck when all the services arrived at the scene,” said Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov.

Three rescuers, a police officer, and around 20 civilians, including children, were injured. The strikes also damaged railway infrastructure, including train wagons, and injured five railway workers, according to the state-owned company Ukrainian Railways.

The company noted that Russia targets railway infrastructure daily, particularly in Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

Russian double-tap attacks, when a target is struck twice, are commonplace in Kharkiv Oblast. The second strike is intended to hit rescue workers.

Kharkiv Oblast is under constant attacks, amped up by Russia’s new offensive in the region that began on May 10. Ukrainian soldiers are holding off Russian advancement in Kharkiv Oblast, thwarting an attempt to capture the village of Borova on July 11.

But Ukraine's military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov warned on July 13 that Russia is planning another attack from the north in the near future.

"If I start answering that question (of where the attack will be), we’ll provoke panic," he told the NV news outlet. "Let's just say that there are problems, and they tend to get worse."

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The Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell