Russian missile strike reduces Kharkiv printing press to ashes, killing 7 (Photos)

Editor's note: This article features graphic photos.

Russian forces destroyed one of Ukraine's largest printing presses amid a mass missile attack on the city of Kharkiv on the morning of May 23.

According to regional authorities, Russia used S-300 missiles, fired from inside Russian territory, to strike the factory belonging to Ukraine's prominent Vivat publishing house.

Russian forces fired around 10 missiles in total at Kharkiv, as well as other settlements in the region including Liubotyn, Derhachi, and Zolochiv.

Seven people were killed in the attack, and over a dozen more injured. One of the civilians killed was placed on an ambulance stretcher, his body still intact. The others, discovered by the firefighters one at a time as they made their way through the smoking ruins, were burnt beyond recognition.

The attack is just the latest in a series of intensified attacks against civilian targets in Kharkiv Oblast amid an ongoing ground offensive in the region.

On May 19, another seven people were killed when Russian forces conducted a "double-tap" strike against a lakeside recreation center north of the city.

Kharkiv is a center of the Ukrainian publishing industry, with repeated attacks seemingly targeting publishing houses condemned as part of Russia's war against Ukrainian culture.

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The Kyiv IndependentChris York