Russia attacks areas in eastern and southern Ukraine in retaliation for fatal bombardments of Russia’s border regions.

Russia used guided bombs in air strikes on the city of Kharkiv on Wednesday for the first time since 2022, killing at least one person and wounding 16, local officials said.

Announcing the toll, Kharkiv’s Mayor Ihor Terekhov described the attack as “another act of bloody terror against Ukrainians” and said four children were among the wounded.

Three residential buildings were damaged, the interior ministry said on the Telegram messenger. Terekhov said a medical facility was also damaged and local police said a school had been hit.

Kharkiv and the surrounding region have frequently been attacked with missiles and drones since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, but the use of large-calibre guided bombs was unusual.

“Kharkiv was hit by aerial bombs – for the first time since 2022,” Serhiy Bolvinov, the head of the investigative department of the regional police, said on Facebook.

The region’s Governor Oleh Syniehubov also reported the use of guided munitions on Wednesday.

Attacks on southern Ukraine

Moscow has escalated aerial attacks on Ukraine in the past few weeks, targeting key infrastructure – including power stations – in retaliation for fatal bombardments of Russia’s border regions.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukraine’s allies to speed up deliveries of warplanes and Patriot air defence systems following the strike.

“Bolstering Ukraine’s air defence and expediting the delivery of F-16s to Ukraine are vital tasks,” he said in a statement on social media.

“There are no rational explanations for why Patriots, which are plentiful around the world, are still not covering the skies of Kharkiv and other cities,” he added.

In southern Ukraine, the governor of Kherson region, which is partially occupied by Russia, said one woman had been killed in a drone attack on the village of Mykhailivka.

“A 61-year-old local resident was fatally wounded in her own home,” the official, Oleksandr Prokudin, wrote on social media.

And in the southeastern city of Nikopol, officials said artillery fire killed a 55-year-old man, while a ballistic missile strike on the coastal territory of Mykolaiv left eight wounded.

Ukraine’s ground forces commander warned last week Russia was gathering more than 100,000 soldiers in advance of what may be a major offensive this summer, as Moscow seeks to press its advantage on the battlefield.

Russia meanwhile announced that its air defence systems had shot down 18 rockets near the border city of Belgorod, which has been regularly targeted by fatal Ukrainian attacks.

The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said two people were wounded during the barrage and a later drone attack.