At least 30 people, including three children, have been injured when a Russian guided bomb hit a high-rise residential building in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says.
"The rescue operation in Kharkiv continues. A Russian air strike. An ordinary residential building, a multi-storey building, was damaged. There is a fire and rubble between the 9th and 12th floors," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messenger app.
He posted photos of smoke and fire billowing out of the windows of a multi-storey building.
A rescue operation is underway in Kharkiv following a Russian strike with aerial bombs. An ordinary residential high-rise building has been damaged. There is a fire and debris between the 9th and 12th floors. So far, nearly 30 people have been reported injured, including… — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) pic.twitter.com/3ngKkfcb1USeptember 15, 2024
All windows had been blown out.
Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov said civilian infrastructure was also damaged.
Kharkiv, Ukraine's second biggest city, is located near the Russian border and is constantly under attack from Russian bombs, missiles and drones.
"And the world must help defend Ukraine from Russian military aircraft, from dozens of guided bombs that take lives of Ukrainians every day. This terror can be stopped," Zelenskiy said.
Ukraine has said it needs to be allowed to use more powerful foreign-supplied weapons to inflict greater damage inside Russia and impair the ability of Russian forces to attack.
Russia denies intentionally targeting civilians despite having killed thousands of them since it invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Zelenskiy told CNN in an interview aired on Sunday that Ukrainian troops are suffering high losses because foreign arms were arriving too slowly to equip the armed forces properly.
He said the situation in the country's east was "very tough," adding that half of Ukraine's brigades there were not equipped.
"So you lose a lot of people. You lose people because they are not in armed vehicles ... they don't have artillery, they don't have artillery rounds," Zelenskiy said, speaking in English.
CNN said the interview had been conducted on Friday.
Zelenskiy said weapons aid packages promised by the United States and European countries were arriving very slowly.
"We need 14 brigades to be ready. Until now ... from these packages we didn't equip even four," he said.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Saturday said the US was working on a "substantial" new aid package for Ukraine.