At least eight people, including two children, were killed after Russian forces struck a residential building in Kharkiv during the night of 7 March. At least 10 others were reported injured as rescue teams continued to search through the rubble and recover victims from the destroyed building.
The strike hit a five-storey residential building in the city’s Kyivskyi district, causing major destruction and a large fire. Officials said the attack destroyed an entrance section of the building from the first to the fifth floor and also damaged the upper floors of a neighbouring residential block.
Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said the building had suffered a direct hit from a ballistic missile. He described the damage as extensive and said there was concern that more people could be trapped beneath the debris.
Local media reported explosions in the city at about 1.35am. Shortly afterwards, emergency services, medical teams and local officials were deployed to the site as rescue workers began clearing rubble, extinguishing the fire and searching for survivors.
By 2.35am, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said six people had been injured and were receiving medical treatment, including an 11-year-old boy. Less than an hour later, the number of injured rose to 10. Syniehubov later said the wounded included two boys aged 11 and 6, as well as a 17-year-old girl.
Emergency officials said the attack triggered a fire covering about 300 square metres. Images released from the scene showed rescuers working in darkness among shattered concrete, twisted metal and burning debris.
Search and rescue operations continued throughout the night amid fears that more residents remained trapped. According to preliminary information cited by the authorities, people were still believed to be under the rubble as rescuers worked through the remains of the collapsed structure.
By 4am, rescuers had recovered the body of one victim from beneath the debris. Officials also said 10 people had been injured, including two children, while four residents had been rescued alive.
By 7am, emergency crews had recovered the bodies of four victims from under the rubble. Search operations were still under way, and specialist units including sappers, dog handlers and psychologists were working at the scene alongside firefighters and rescue teams from Kharkiv and other emergency service garrisons.
At 8am, officials reported that another body had been found, bringing the confirmed death toll to five. By 8.30am, rescuers had recovered the body of a child. At that stage, the total number of dead rose to seven, including two children, while the search continued.
A later official update issued at 12.40pm said the number of people killed in the strike had increased again, this time to eight.
The attack is the latest in a series of Russian strikes on Kharkiv, a city that has remained under repeated bombardment since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Owing to its proximity to the Russian border, Kharkiv has frequently been targeted with missiles, drones and guided bombs, with residential areas often among the sites hit.
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The overnight strike again underlined the vulnerability of civilian infrastructure in frontline and border regions of Ukraine. Missile attacks leave civilians and emergency services with very little warning time, increasing the risk of high casualties, particularly when residential buildings are struck while people are inside their homes at night.
This was not an attack on a military objective but on a residential building in a civilian neighbourhood where no military target was present. That makes it a war crime, one among many carried out by Russia throughout this war.
