Russian attacks kill two people in Kharkiv, Ukraine as Moscow steps up attacks | News about the Russia-Ukraine war

The latest bombings come as Russian President Putin says the aim of the Kharkiv offensive is to create a buffer zone.

Russian guided bombs have killed at least two people and injured 13 in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv, local officials say, as Russia continues its major military offensive in the region.

It was not immediately clear what Friday’s bombs were aimed at, but the regional governor said those injured were civilians.

“Of the 13 injured, four are in serious condition,” Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on the messaging app Telegram.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and the surrounding region have long been the target of Russian attacks, but attacks have increased in recent months, hitting civilian and energy infrastructure.

Al Jazeera’s John Holman reported from Kharkiv on Friday that multiple impacts could be heard and a “thick, black cloud of smoke” could be seen.

“We don’t yet know what was hit – whether factories or residential infrastructure,” he reported, adding that there had also been drone attacks in the city.

“Yesterday there was actually an air alert for 16.5 hours. That’s the longest since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, Holman said.

“There is a feeling that this region is under pressure at the moment,” he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of wanting to reduce Kharkiv to rubble.

Moscow has denied carrying out deliberate attacks on civilians, but thousands have been killed and injured since its invasion of Ukraine began.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the offensive in the Kharkiv region, which lies on the border with Russia, was aimed at creating a buffer zone and that the Kremlin had no plans to take the city of Kharkiv.

During a visit to China, Putin told reporters that Moscow launched its attacks in response to Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s neighboring Belgorod region.

“I said publicly that if things continue like this, we will be forced to create a security zone, a sanitary zone,” the Russian leader said. “That’s what we do.”

He added that Russian troops were “advancing as planned every day.”

‘Under control’

Putin’s comments were his first on the Kharkiv offensive, which began on May 10. The operation opened a new front in the war and displaced thousands of Ukrainians within days.

The comments also came hours after a major Ukrainian drone strike on the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula caused power outages in the city of Sevastopol, after an earlier attack damaged aircraft and fuel depots at an air base.

Russian authorities said Friday’s attacks also set a refinery on fire.

Zelensky traveled to Kharkiv this week as the Ukrainian military said it had managed to partially halt a Russian advance.

Most importantly, the army said it prevented Russia from taking Vovchansk, which is 5 km (3 miles) from the border with Russia.

“The situation in the Kharkiv region is largely under control and our soldiers are inflicting significant losses on the occupier,” Zelensky said in a post on Telegram on Thursday.

“However, the area remains extremely difficult.”

New laws

Gen. Christopher Cavoli, NATO’s top commander in Europe, said he did not believe the Russian military had the troop strength necessary for a strategic breakthrough in the Kharkiv region and was confident Ukrainian forces would hold their positions there.

In an effort to increase troop numbers, Zelensky signed two laws on Friday, one to allow prisoners to join the army and one to increase fines for conscientious objectors fivefold.

The mobilization law comes into force on Saturday.

The law provides for certain categories of persons accused of crimes the possibility of “being released from serving a sentence on probation and being called up for military service under a contract for a certain period of time.”

This does not include those convicted of crimes against Ukraine’s national security.

The Ukrainian armed forces are currently waiting for delayed deliveries of important weapons and ammunition from Western partners.

The lack of manpower is seen by some military analysts as Ukraine’s biggest problem. Weapons shipments, which have been significantly delayed, particularly from Washington, are expected to reach the front lines soon.

Denmark said it would send Ukraine a new military aid package, mostly including air defense weapons and artillery, worth about 5.6 billion crowns ($815.5 million).