Russia drops aerial bombs on major northeast Ukraine city

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia struck the northeastern city of Kharkiv with aerial bombs Wednesday for the first time since 2022, killing at least one civilian and wounding 16 others, local officials said.

The airstrikes caused widespread damage, hitting several residential buildings and damaging the city’s institute for emergency surgery.

Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukraine in recent days, launching several missile barrages on the capital, Kyiv, and hitting energy infrastructure across the country in apparent retaliation for recent Ukrainian aerial attacks on the Russian border region of Belgorod.

Such sporadic attacks, however, have been common throughout the war.

The Kharkiv region cuts across the front line where Ukrainian and Russian forces have been locked in battles for more than two years since Moscow’s fullscale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The region is frequently under missile and drone attack.

Sergey Bolvinov, head of the investigative police department in Khakiv, said in a post on the messaging app Telegram that Wednesday’s attack marked the first time aerial bombs were used since 2022. Regional Gov. Oleh Sinegubov also reported the use of aerial bombs.

The recent escalation comes as exhausted Ukrainian troops struggle with a shortage of personnel and ammunition and face growing Russian pressure along the front line that stretches over 620 miles.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sacked one of his top security officials, replacing him with the head of Ukraine’s foreign spy agency in a new reshuffle.

Zelensky dismissed Oleksii Danilov, who served as secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, thanking him for his service in a video address late Tuesday. The president gave no reason and said, without providing details, that Danilov will be “reassigned to another area.”

Danilov was replaced by Oleksandr Lytvynenko, who served as head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service.