Four people die in attacks in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and three in Belgorod, Russia | News about the war between Russia and Ukraine

Local authorities in Kharkiv said two missiles hit a hardware store in another Russian attack on the city.

At least seven people have been killed in separate attacks in Ukraine and Russia, officials said, as Moscow steps up its offensive in northeastern Ukraine.

Two Russian missiles hit a hardware store in the first attack on Saturday, where about 200 people were believed to be inside, Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, said on his Telegram channel.

Four people were killed and at least 38 injured, Syniehubov said. The two dead were store employees and a fire caused by the explosion is now under control.

“This attack on Kharkiv is another expression of Russian madness,” said Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky in response to news of the attack. He pointed out that the target was not military infrastructure, but one of the city’s largest shopping centers.

Russia has repeatedly stated that it is not attacking civilian infrastructure. But United Nations officials, Ukrainian government officials and aid organizations have reported tens of thousands of civilian casualties since the Russian invasion began more than two years ago.

“I was at my workplace. I heard the first impact and … my colleague and I fell to the ground. Then the second impact came and we were covered with debris. Then we started crawling to higher ground,” witness Dmytro Syrotenko, who had a large cut on his face, told Reuters.

Ivor Terekhov, the mayor of Kharkiv, said there was a second Russian attack in the city centre, injuring at least 11 people.

Attacks on Belgorod

Later Saturday, the governor of Russia’s southern Belgorod region said three people had been killed in two separate Ukrainian attacks in the region.

Vyacheslav Gladkov said a man and a woman were killed and 10 others wounded in a rocket attack in the village of Oktyabrsky. He added that a woman was killed while gardening in another attack on the village of Dubovoye.

Gladkov said air defense units had intercepted 15 air targets.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had previously promised to set up a “buffer zone” in Kharkiv. He described this as a response to Kiev’s shelling of Russian border regions such as Belgorod. Russia frequently launches air strikes on Ukraine from the Belgorod region.

On May 10, Russian troops launched a cross-border attack on the north-eastern front of the Kharkiv region. This attack opened a new front in the war. Kyiv said it was an attempt to withdraw the outnumbered troops from the east, where the fiercest fighting is taking place.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, located about 30 kilometers from the Russian border, has been subjected to a wave of almost daily attacks for months as Russian forces advance on the country’s eastern front.

In the city, which is still home to around 1.3 million people, most of the energy infrastructure was severely damaged.

If Russian troops take over Kharkiv, even far from the city, it would be a real test of Kiev’s morale, said John Holman of Al Jazeera in the Ukrainian capital.

“If they succeed in getting the people out and depopulating the city, it would be a morale boost for Russia and a devastating blow for Ukraine,” Holman said.

In their respective messages on the attacks on Kharkiv, both Zelensky and Syniehubov took the opportunity to once again ask the Western allies to send increased air defense forces to protect the city.

“When we say to world leaders that Ukraine needs adequate air defense protection, when we say that real determination is needed – to be able to protect the lives of our people in the most effective way,” the president said.