In a tragic turn of events, a missile attacked a postal distribution center in the eastern region of Ukraine, with the devastating loss of six lives late on a Saturday night. A subsequent 16 individuals were left injured in the aftermath. President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the news on Telegram, stating that a Nova Poshta sorting office located in Kharkiv was the target of the strike.
Images shared on the President’s account depicted the heartbreaking scene with the building’s windows blown out entirely. Governor Oleh Syniehubov of Kharkiv region affirmed that the victims were all employees of the postal company.
Authorities maintain that 22 individuals were inside the premises when the suspected S-300 rocket struck the building just ahead of half-past ten local time. Currently, investigators, criminologists, and forensic experts joined together are meticulously examining the bodies of the departed, according to a law enforcement social media update.
Governor Syniehubov further detailed on Telegram that the victims ranged in ages between 19 and 42, with some having suffered shrapnel injuries from the devastating explosion. He emphasized that the private delivery company, located in the western Kharkiv suburb of Korotych, was strictly a non-military site.
Further expressing his grief, he sorrowfully noted, “The Russians have inflicted more terror on Kharkiv’s peaceful population.”
President Zelensky confirmed the ongoing rescue operation, with emergency responders diligently working onsite. Russia, despite allegations, has yet to comment on the missile strike. In previous instances, it has routinely denied targeting civilians during its military action in Ukraine.
Of the wounded, seven individuals remain in hospital with moderate injuries, while seven men endure a more serious condition. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, is a mere 30km distance from the Russian border.
The city saw intense bombing during the first weeks of the war in February 2022. Recently, Kharkiv’s Mayor Ihor Terekhov declared a first for Ukraine – an underground school to be built in the city for children to resume their in-person education safely.
Simultaneously in southern Ukraine, a counter-offensive campaign has been underway since June. Ukraine aims to rupture Russia’s land pathway to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014 – a move deemed illegitimate internationally. However, the counter-offensive has yielded slow progress, realizing only marginal territorial gains.
