A rescuer stands at the site where an apartment building was hit by a Russian air strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine October 30, 2024. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
(Reuters) -A Russian guided bomb struck a high-rise apartment block on Wednesday evening in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, injuring at least 17 people, including three trapped under rubble, and badly damaging the building, officials said.
Kharkiv region governor Oleh Syniehubov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the impact triggered a fire and destroyed most of one entrance to the building.
He said 17 people were injured, included three trapped under rubble. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov put the injury toll at 18.
Pictures posted online showed firefighters tackling a blaze outside the building, with entire sections of the nine-storey structure collapsed into rubble.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the attack underscored the need for more military aid from Ukraine's Western allies.
"Our partners can see what is happening every day," he wrote on Telegram. "And in these conditions, every decision that is put off means, at the very least, dozens of lives and hundreds of Russian bombs used against Ukraine."
Kharkiv remained in Ukrainian hands through the initial failed advance of Russian forces on the capital Kyiv in the early days of the February 2022 invasion. It has since become a frequent target of Russian air attacks.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Olesander Korzhukhov; Editing by Chris Reese, Bill Berkrot and Sandra Maler)
