War in Ukraine: four dead in Kharkiv, Moscow accuses kyiv of targeting Crimea with American missiles

Kharkiv est, depuis plusieurs jours, sous le feu de bombres russes. MAXPPP – GEORGE IVANCHENKO

La ville de Kharkiv, deuxième plus grande du pays, est la cible d’attaques constantes ces dernières semaines par des missiles et des bombes guidées russes, dans le cadre d’une offensive lancée par les troupes de Moscou dans le nord-est de la région.

Russian airstrikes killed at least four people and injured eight others on Sunday in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, according to local officials. Reuters correspondents at the scene of the attack saw a recreational area destroyed after what rescuers on the scene described as a powerful explosion, followed by a second strike about 15 minutes later.

The body of a man lay beneath the rubble of what, just over an hour ago, had been a busy lakeside restaurant on a busy day sunny. "The occupiers attacked the area where residents were relaxing", Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on the’ Telegram messaging application.

The city of Kharkiv and the region of the same name have been under constant attack in recent weeks by Russian missiles and guided bombs, as part of an offensive launched by Moscow's troops in the northeast of the region.

Nine American missiles shot down

Separately, Russian officials said Sunday that Ukraine fired nine U.S. ATACMS missiles into Crimea and attacked Russian regions with at least 60 drones in a major offensive that forced an oil refinery to halt operations.

Russian air defenses shot down nine US ATACMS missiles over Crimea, as well as 57 drones over Russia's Krasnodar region and three drones over the Belgorod region, a declared the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The risk of war between Russia and the West

Local officials said six drones crashed at the site of an oil refinery in Slavyansk, Krasnodar region, southern Russia. The Interfax news agency reported that the refinery had halted operations following the attack. The Slavyansk refinery is a private plant with a capacity of 4 million tons of oil per year, or approximately 1 million barrels per day.

Kyiv had no immediate comment. Russia has reported an increase in Ukrainian attacks on its territory since the opening of a new front in the Kharkiv region, in northeastern Ukraine, earlier this month. President Vladimir Putin said Russia was creating a buffer zone in the region to protect itself from the attacks, which Moscow says risk triggering a wider war between Russia and the West if it’s ;rsquo;Ukraine uses Western weapons.

Russian forces captured the village of Starytsia in Ukraine's Kharkiv region and defeated Ukrainian units along the front, including in the Sumy region, Russia said on Saturday.< /p>