Russian shelling kills 3, injures 31 in Kharkiv, Ukraine says

KHARKIV, Ukraine, July 11 (Reuters) – Three people were killed and 31 injured on Monday after Russian shelling hit the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, the regional governor said.

The mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, said on Telegram that the shelling hit civilian infrastructure, including commercial property and a tire repair shop.

These are “places that had no military significance”, said Mayor Ihor Terekhov, adding that two children aged 4 and 16 were among the dozens taken to hospital.

“Several shells hit the yards of private houses. Garages and cars were also destroyed, several fires broke out,” regional governor Oleh Synehubov said.

In the early hours of Monday, a separate strike hit a school as well as an apartment building and rescuers rescued an 86-year-old woman from the rubble, he said. No one was reported killed.

Valentyna Popovychuk, a 74-year-old resident, said she was rescued from the building.

“I woke up in my bed, I was all covered in dust. I went to the bathroom to wash up and again rubble and dust fell on me,” she said.

“I saw lights, the headlights of lifeguards, and I started shouting ‘I’m alive, please get me out’. Lifeguards entered the hallway, kicked down the door and took me out.”

Russia, which invaded Ukraine on February 24, denies targeting civilians.

Kharkiv, which is close to the Russian border, suffered heavy shelling in the initial phase of the war, followed by a period of relative calm, but which has been shattered by renewed shelling in recent weeks.

Reporting by Yiming Woo, Aleksandar Vasovic and Max Hunder Writing by Tom Balmforth Editing by Mark Heinrich

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