Russian forces launched a guided aerial bomb attack on a residential building in Kharkiv late on 30 October, killing two people including a 12-year-old boy and injuring 34 others, local officials report. The strike, which occurred at 22:49 local time, targeted a nine-story apartment building in Kharkiv’s Saltivskyi district, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine and Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration head Oleh Syniehubov report.
According to Syniehubov, the attack was likely carried out using a FAB-500 aerial bomb. The explosion destroyed the building’s entrance from the first to fifth floor, with rescue operations hampered by significant structural damage and collapse risks.
“The boy who was killed by the terrorist country was 12 years old,” Syniehubov reports. “He was extracted from the rubble with severe head injuries and fractures. Medical personnel conducted resuscitation efforts for over half an hour but unfortunately could not save the child.”
Emergency services later recovered body fragments from the rubble, which were identified as those of a second victim, bringing the death toll to two. Among the 34 injured, two remain in serious condition and eight in moderate condition, while others sustained minor injuries, according to Syniehubov. A 15-year-old teenage boy remained under the rubble.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, responding to the attack, stated:
“Russia struck a nine-story building in Kharkiv with a guided aerial bomb. Unfortunately, there are casualties, including children. People may still be under the rubble. All necessary services are on site.”
The attack also damaged 16 cars and 14 apartment buildings in the area, primarily affecting windows, Syniehubov reports.
Syniehubov also reported that Russians killed a 42-year-old man in the village of Kucherivka, Kupiansk district, following shelling around 16:02 on October 30. Earlier, at 15:30, shelling in the city of Kupiansk damaged a two-story apartment building, injuring five people, including a 57-year-old woman, two men aged 51 and 58, and two police officers, ages 36 and 39.
Earlier attacks on Kharkiv included a Russian air strike on the Derzhprom building on 28 October that injured seven people, and an overnight attack on 29 October targeting the private sector of Osnovianskyi district that killed four people.
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