Kremlin air assault kills 3, injures 29, including 3 children, in Kharkiv, day after Zelensky says city ‘defeated Putin’

Russian guided bombs targeted residential buildings in Kharkiv on Monday, killing at least three people and leaving rescuers to search for possible survivors under the rubble, a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the city for resisting Moscow’s attempts to destroy it.

At least 29 people were injured, including three children, according to the latest figures provided by local authorities.

Mayor Ihor Terekhov said Russia attacked the northeastern Ukrainian city with at least three guided aerial bombs around 3 p.m. local time. The attacks hit the Slobidskyi district, damaging houses and burning warehouses. It reported three deaths around 3:40 p.m.

People could become trapped under the rubble of a residential building, Terekhov said, as emergency teams conducted a search and rescue operation.

Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said preliminary information indicated a five-story apartment building was damaged by a guided bomb.

A Russian drone also struck a gas station in Kharkiv’s Kyivskyi district during the afternoon assault. Authorities continued to assess the damage and casualty figures remained preliminary.

This attack follows another deadly attack on the city on Sunday evening. Local officials said Russian weapons identified as Banderol missile drones killed one person and injured six others in the Industrialnyi district, damaging about 10 apartment buildings.

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“Kharkiv defeated Putin”

Hours before Sunday evening’s attack, Zelensky congratulated Kharkiv residents during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in kyiv.

Zelensky said of Russian leader Vladimir Putin:

“He couldn’t break them, even when the enemy was very close. He just couldn’t.

“Honestly, Kharkiv defeated Putin. I’m sure of it.

“For him, it is symbolically the ‘first capital of Ukraine’. The people of Kharkiv were remarkable – all our people were.

Zelensky was referring to the city’s resistance to Russian efforts to bring it under its control. He said Putin had underestimated the strength of its people and described Kharkiv as a city of particular symbolic importance to the Russian leader.

Monday’s attacks underscored the continuing danger to civilians despite the city’s resistance.

Guided aerial bombs – commonly referred to in Ukraine as KAB – are aircraft-launched weapons capable of precisely hitting their target with warheads large enough to cause significant damage to buildings.

In the Slobidskyi district, the immediate priority remained finding anyone trapped in the damaged residential building while emergency crews responded to the fires and assessed the damage.