A Russian bomb attack on the northeastern Ukraine city of Kharkiv on Friday hit a playground and a 12-story residential building.
Officials say seven people, including a 14-year-old girl, were killed, and at least 77 people were injured. Twenty of the injured are reported to be in serious condition, officials say.
The residential building in the city’s Industrialnyi district caught fire.
Ukrainian officials say Russia used glide bombs in the attack. Such bombs are equipped with navigation systems that direct them to their targets. They are difficult to intercept and can cause massive destruction.
Following the strike on Kharkiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again called on his country’s Western allies to relax their restrictions and allow Ukraine to use long-range Western weapons in attacks on Russian military bases.
The strike "would not have happened if our defense forces had the ability to destroy Russian military aircraft where they are based," Zelenskyy said on Telegram. "There is no rational reason to restrict Ukraine's defenses."
Meanwhile, in Washington on Friday, a delegation of top Ukrainian officials, including Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, met with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
“The Ukrainian side noted that Ukraine needs to strengthen its air defense in order to protect people and critical infrastructure,” Zelenskyy’s office said in a statement about the meeting.
The statement also said Andriy Yermak, Ukraine’s head of the office of the president, “emphasized that it is extremely important for our state to receive weapons from the already announced defense packages as soon as possible.”
On the Russian side, officials said Ukraine fired cluster munitions on the city of Belgorod, killing five people and wounding 37 others.
Meanwhile, in Brussels on Friday, European Union defense ministers called on Ukraine's allies to deliver on those promised weapons systems, and Ukraine’s top diplomat urged Britain and the United States to lift restrictions on his nation’s use of their weapons on targets inside Russia.
The defense ministers met for their first informal meeting following a summer recess, and, speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting, said military aid for Ukraine remains at the top of the agenda.
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said Ukraine’s recent incursion into Russia’s Kursk region was going in the right direction but added that Ukraine is doing so with one hand “behind the back,” because it needs more weapons systems. He urged colleagues to deliver on promised weapons systems.
On that note, Netherlands Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said his country is close to delivering Patriot missile defense systems it has promised to Ukraine. He said he did not want to give a precise date because he did not want to tip off the Russians but said it would be soon.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, attended the EU defense ministers meeting in Brussels and urged EU member states to pressure Britain and the United States to drop restrictions on using donated long-range weapons against "legitimate" targets deep inside Russia.
Both Britain and the United States have put limits on Kyiv's use of donated long-range missiles for fear of escalating the conflict with Russia. Earlier this year, U.S. officials had agreed to allow Ukraine to fire on targets inside Russia in direct response to Moscow’s offensive against the city of Kharkiv but left other restrictions in place.
Speaking to reporters, Kuleba said he expects permission to be granted and the delivery of weapons to be used for that purpose. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, speaking alongside Kuleba, expressed his support for lifting the restrictions and urged EU members to pressure Britain and the U.S. to do so.
Also Friday, fighting continued in Ukraine, with local authorities in the northeastern city of Sumy saying a Russian strike killed two women and wounded eight other people.
The city’s prosecutor general's office said the airstrike caused a fire, prompting regional authorities to ask residents to stay inside and close the windows. The office said that a factory that was hit manufactured packaging for baby food, juices and household products.
Sumy lies just across the border from Russia's Kursk region, where Kyiv launched an offensive on August 6 it said was aimed at creating a "buffer zone" in Russian territory, among other goals.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
