At least 47 injured in Russian missile attack on Kharkiv sports centre

Officials say five children were hurt in Sunday’s attack which also damaged a shopping mall.

At least 47 people, including five children, have been injured after a Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv.

The attack, which began at about 1pm (10:00 GMT) local time on Sunday, hit a shopping mall and a major sports centre in the northeastern city, which is not far from the border with Russia.

Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the Saltivskyi and Nemyshlianskyi districts came under attack, with the prosecutor general saying Russia used Iskander missiles.

Seven children were among the injured with the youngest just three months old.

“Several people are in a very serious condition,” Ukrainska Pravda reported the mayor as saying.

He added that rescue teams and ambulances who responded to the call also came under fire.

“The enemy launched a cynical repeat strike on our city … leaving doctors injured,” Terekhov said.

The attack comes just a few days after at least seven people were killed and dozens injured when Russian weapons struck an apartment block in the city starting a fire.

Following Sunday’s attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated his call for Ukraine’s Western allies to allow the country to use their weapons on targets deeper inside Russia. Zelenskyy argues such a move would allow Ukraine to more effectively reduce the Russian military threat.

“All the necessary forces of the world must be brought in to stop this terror,” Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel, after officials said the attack involved at least 10 missiles.

“This does not require extraordinary forces but enough courage on the part of the leaders – courage to give Ukraine what it needs to defend itself.”

Photos and videos from the scene showed rescue workers and volunteers carrying the injured from the ruined buildings. Many were covered in dust with their clothes ripped and torn.

Shattered glass and debris were strewn across the ground as people fled to a metro station for safety.

Russia’s attack on Sunday came a few hours after it said it had intercepted more than 150 drones over its territory that is said were part of a “massive” Ukrainian attack.

Russia last week pounded Ukraine with its heaviest air strikes of the war, homing in on the country’s energy network.

Moscow denies targeting civilians, saying that damaging Ukraine’s energy system is a legitimate military goal. Its drone and missile barrages have killed thousands of civilians since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Zelenskyy said that last week alone, Russia had used 160 missiles, 780 guided aerial bombs and 400 attack drones against cities and soldiers across Ukraine.

He called on Telegram for “a decision on long-range strikes on missile launch sites from Russia, destruction of Russian military logistics, joint shooting down of missiles and drones”.