Russia Strikes Apartment Block in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, Three Killed, 31 Injured

State Emergency Service of Ukraine rescuers stand next to an apartment building destroyed during an airstrike in Kharkiv, on September 24, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)

Russia hit a high-rise apartment block and a bakery in Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv with guided bombs on Tuesday, killing at least three people and injuring 31 more, with others feared trapped under rubble, authorities said.

"The targets of the Russian bombs were an apartment building, a bakery, a stadium. In other words, the everyday life of ordinary people," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on X.

The strike took place just as world leaders gathered in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

"There is much discussion now at the UN General Assembly about collective efforts for security and the future. But we just need to stop the terror. To have security. To have a future," said Zelenskiy, who was attending the gathering.

Images from the site showed a hole blown through the nine-storey apartment block, several floors of it totally destroyed. The building was hit directly, local officials said.

Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said on the Telegram messenger that it had already been attacked by Russia at the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

"It was almost repaired, windows were installed, it was insulated, and prepared for the heating season. The enemy hit it a second time," Terekhov said, adding that the section of the building that suffered most damage was housing 82 people.

A 17-year-old was among the injured and four other people were in a serious condition, said the regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov.

Russia launched eight guided bombs, six of which hit Kharkiv, regional prosecutors said on Telegram. The most densely populated area of the city was targeted, according to Terekhov.

Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, and the surrounding region regularly come under Russian attacks. Moscow's troops extensively use highly destructive guided bombs that Ukrainian air defenses struggle to intercept.

Kyiv, which is pressing allies to allow deep strikes into Russia, says the most effective means of reducing the attacks is to target not the bombs themselves but planes and airfields hosting them.

"We are counting on the courage to allow us to attack military targets in enemy territory with Western weapons. This is crucial to protect the people," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said, commenting on Tuesday's deadly strikes.

Russia denies intentionally targeting civilians although it has killed thousands of them during more than 2/1-2 years of war.