Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Russian forces launched attacks against Kharkiv Oblast on May 23, killing at least seven people in Kharkiv and injuring at least 21, as well as at least 11 elsewhere in the oblast, as reported by local officials and a Kyiv Independent reporter.
Kharkiv and other regional settlements have suffered increasingly intense strikes since Russia launched a new offensive in the oblast on May 10.
The Kyiv Independent journalist reported several explosions in Kharkiv at 10:30 a.m. local time. Governor Oleh Syniehubov and Mayor Ihor Terekhov said that around 10 blasts could be heard in the city.
The attacks targeted transportation infrastructure in the Kholodnohirskyi district and a building of a communal services company, the mayor said.
A printing shop in Kharkiv's Osnovianskyi district suffered a direct hit, resulting in a fire, the governor said, adding that more than 50 employees were inside during the attack. The shop reportedly belonged to the Faktor Druk printing house.
The seven people who were killed were the shop's employees, including five women and one man, Syniehubov said on Telegram, adding that information about the seventh victim is still being clarified.
They were "in the very epicenter" of that strike, Syniehubov told reporters in a briefing attended by the Kyiv Independent journalist.
Russian forces carried out 15 strikes against Kharkiv and the Kharkiv district, probably with S-300 missiles, the regional prosecutor's office spokesperson, Dmytro Chubenko, told Suspilne.
Oleksandr Filchakov, the head of the regional prosecutor's office, confirmed for the Kyiv Independent that Russia attacked the city with S-300 missiles.
At least two people were injured in Zolochiv, a village around 35 kilometers (over 20 miles) north of Kharkiv, and at least seven others in Liubotyn, a town some 15 kilometers (9 miles) west of the regional center, according to officials.
In Liubotyn, S-300 missiles hit the area of the railway station, Chubenko said. A park, cars, and shops were also damaged, according to the Prosecutor General's Office.
Zolochiv was hit by guided aerial bombs, dealing damage to a local kindergarten, Syniehubov reported.
Ukrainian Railways reported that six of their workers had been injured in attacks against Kharkiv Oblast, and several of their facilities were hit both in Kharkiv and elsewhere.
Around four hours after the initial attack, Russia carried out two aerial strikes with KAB bombs against Kharkiv and a nearby town of Derhachi, Syniehubov reported.
Two people – a man and a woman – were injured in Derhachi and hospitalized, local authorities said. Four other people suffered from shock.
Francis Farrell
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