Ukrainian officials reported that an elderly woman and a police officer were killed on Saturday morning due to shelling by Russian forces in a residential area in Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine and in the Zaporizhia region in the south. Oleksii Syniehubov, the governor of Kharkiv, stated on Telegram: "The enemy fired around 05:10 this morning at the village of Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi in the Kupiansk area. A residential building was damaged. A 73-year-old woman was killed."
In a separate attack on the town of Orikhiv in the Zaporizhia region, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported via Telegram that a police officer was killed and 12 individuals were injured, including four police officers. The minister added that "Russian forces used a guided aerial munition in the bombardment."
Reuters was unable to independently verify the details of the Ukrainian reports. The eastern parts of the Kharkiv region, as well as most of the Zaporizhia region, are directly adjacent to the frontline, and Ukrainian forces have reported an increase in Russian attacks there in recent weeks. Local authorities in Kharkiv previously announced the mandatory evacuation of civilians from residential areas closest to the frontline in the Kupiansk region.
Ukrainian authorities stated that Russia attacked "a target from civilian infrastructure" in Zaporizhia on Thursday evening. Russia denies intentionally targeting civilians during its invasion of Ukraine, which has now entered its eighteenth month and has resulted in thousands of deaths, the flight of millions, and the destruction of towns and cities across Ukraine.
