Russian strike on Ukrainian mail depot kills six, officials say

At least 14 people were injured in the Russian missile strike on an ‘ordinary civilian’ site, Kyiv says.

Six people were killed and at least 14 injured when Russian missiles hit a postal distribution centre in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials have said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on the Telegram messaging app that the strike on Saturday hit an “ordinary civilian” site.

He shared a video showing a building with blown-out windows and heavy structural damage, with the logo of Ukraine’s Nova Poshta postal service in the background.

Victims of the attack are being treated for shrapnel injuries and seven are in serious condition and “fighting for their lives,” regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

The injured are aged between 17 and 42, Syniehubov said.

Syniehubov added that postal workers had been unable to seek shelter from the strike because the building was hit just seconds after a warning siren sounded.

“The Russians have inflicted more terror on Kharkiv’s peaceful population,” he said on Telegram.

The regional prosecutor’s office said the depot had been struck by two S-300 missiles fired by Moscow’s forces in Russia’s Belgorod region, north of Kharkiv.

Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second-largest city and just 30km (19 miles) from the Russian border. The city was the site of heavy bombing by Russia in February 2022, in the early days of the Russian full-scale invasion.

Russia did not immediately comment on the missile strike but it has denied targeting civilians and civilian buildings since it launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour last year.