War

Russian missile strike on Kharkiv Oblast kills 3, wounds 15, including 3 children

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Russian missile strike on Kharkiv Oblast kills 3, wounds 15, including 3 children
A photo of the attack site where two Russian missiles hit the center of Balakliia in northeastern Kharkiv Oblast, shared by Vitalii Karabanov, the head of the town's military administration. (Vitalii Karabanov/Telegram)

An overnight Russian missile strike on the town of Balakliia in northeastern Kharkiv Oblast killed three and wounded 15, including three children, local authorities reported on Nov. 17.

Head of Balakliia's Military Administration Vitalii Karabanov reported that two Russian missiles hit an area near apartment buildings in the center of the town. He said that the children wounded in the attack were born in 2007, 2010, and 2011.

Since Russian troops intensified their offensive in the eastern part of Kharkiv Oblast this year, such attacks on towns and villages further from the front have increased. Balakliia was captured by Russian troops at the beginning of the full-scale war, until Ukraine liberated it during the Fall 2022 counteroffensive.

Balakliia is located over 60 kilometers from the front.

Karabanov said that nine of the wounded victims were hospitalized, and that the rescue operation continued as of 4 a.m.

"Unfortunately, calls about possible victims continue to come in," Karabanov said in his Telegram post.

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Asami Terajima

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Asami Terajima is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent covering Ukrainian military affairs and front-line developments. She is the co-author of the weekly War Notes newsletter. She previously worked as a business reporter for the Kyiv Post, focusing on international trade, infrastructure, investment, and energy. Originally from Japan, Terajima moved to Ukraine during childhood and completed her bachelor's degree in Business Administration in the U.S. She is the winner of the Thomson Reuters Foundation's Kurt Schork Award in International Journalism 2023 (Local Reporter category) and the George Weidenfeld Prize, awarded as part of Germany's Axel Springer Prize 2023. She was also featured on the Media Development Foundation's 2023 "25 under 25: Young and Bold" list of emerging media makers in Ukraine. She is among the finalists for the U.K.'s One World Media Award 2026 in the Print category and the French Bayeux Calvados-Normandy award 2025 for war correspondents in the Young Reporter category.

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