KHARKIV, Ukraine — Four Russian missiles struck the city center of Kharkiv just after midnight on Saturday morning in one of the most intense attacks in weeks, targeting two building complexes used by the Ukrainian military.
One 45-year-old man was hospitalized with shrapnel wounds, the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov, said on Telegram.
Three of the missiles landed in building courtyards, and a fourth landed in a park across the street. One missile landed on the grounds of the city library, an elegant pale yellow stucco building also used by the Institute of Agriculture, where Ukrainian soldiers had been using an annex in recent months.
On Saturday, uniformed soldiers examined a crater beside a mangled green bus. Two of the missiles had struck another building complex adjacent to the library, severely damaging part of a three-story building and nearby shops. Soldiers in civilian clothes barred entrance to the courtyard of the complex as police officials arrived to inspect the damage. The building seems to have been an ammunition depot, according to residents who posted videos of the aftermath of the strikes on social media.
A security guard who lived nearby said he heard explosions for about an hour after the strikes. Videos posted on Telegram channels by city residents captured flames burning and sounds of explosions.
On the yard of the second complex, one missile had gouged a crater almost 10 meters wide. People were carrying green boxes out of a building in another part of the yard. The buildings were also hit in a series of strikes in the summer.
The missiles were from S-300 air defense systems, a police investigator at the scene said, as he collected debris from the crater in the park.
The Russian army has used S-300 missiles increasingly in the last few months to attack both military and civilian targets across Ukraine, which has mounted a concerted counteroffensive against Russian positions in eastern and southern fronts.
Oleksandr Chubkoand Borys Shelahurov contributed reporting from Kharkiv.
