Dozens of people have been injured after a Russian-guided bomb hit a high-rise residential building in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of the city in northeastern Ukraine, said the bomb hit the 10th floor of the apartment building, with the fire spreading across four floors.
Twelve other buildings were also damaged in the same airstrike, he said.
“The rescue operation in Kharkiv continues,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an update on social media on Sunday afternoon.
“An ordinary residential building, a multi-storey building, was damaged. There is a fire and rubble between the 9th and 12th floors,” he added.
“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.”
The mayor said at least 41 people were injured in the strike on the Kharkiv block of flats but Mr Zelenskyy later referred to 35 wounded.
Kharkiv, one of Ukraine’s largest cities and a key industrial centre, is located near the Russian border and is constantly under attack from Russian bombs, missiles and drones.
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Meanwhile, two people have died in a missile attack on the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odesa.
The Ukrainian air force said on Sunday it shot down 10 of the 14 drones and one of the three missiles Russia launched overnight.
Oleh Kiper, Odesa’s regional governor, said the pair who died in the suburbs of Odesa on Saturday night were a married couple, and another person was injured in the attack.
The Russian Defence Ministry said it downed 29 Ukrainian drones overnight into Sunday over western and southwestern regions, with no damage caused by the falling debris.
It also said another Ukrainian drone was shot down on Sunday morning over the western Ryazan region.
The exchange of fire comes as Mr Zelenskyy continued to pressure the West to allow Ukraine to use the long-range missiles they have provided to strike targets deep inside Russia.
So far, the US has allowed Kyiv to use American-provided weapons only in a limited area inside Russia’s border with Ukraine.
The UK government is also under pressure to allow troops to fire Storm Shadow long-range missiles into Russia.
However, no decision was made following talks between Sir Keir Starmer and US President Joe Biden in Washington this week.
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‘We will not be bullied by Putin’s shameless grandstanding’
Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips he could not discuss the details of why a decision was not made, but added: “There’s a debate about further missiles.
“And we are discussing that as allies, as you would expect us to.”
