By Vitalii Hnidyi
KHARKIV, Ukraine (Reuters) -A Russian guided bomb attack on Kharkiv on Monday shattered much of the Derzhprom building, one of the most celebrated landmarks in Ukraine’s second city, dating from the 1920s.
Six people were injured in the 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) strike, adding to 13 wounded in an earlier overnight bomb attack on the city.
In the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, a Russian missile struck a three-storey residential building, killing one person and wounding at least 11.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy denounced the strike on Kharkiv’s Derzhprom (State Industry) building, one of the most striking examples of Soviet-era constructivism architecture and dubbed the Soviet Union’s first skyscraper.
Writing on X, he also deplored the attack on Kryvyi Rih, his home town, and called for renewed efforts to force Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to halt the more than 2-1/2 year-old war.
“Every handshake with war criminal Putin boosts his confidence. Every pleasant smile convinces him that he can get away with his crimes,” Zelenskiy wrote.
“Instead of cosying up to him, we must force him into peace through our collective decisiveness.”
Reuters Television video showed parts of the Derzhprom building reduced to rubble and virtually all of its windows shattered.
“The occupiers have struck an iconic symbol of the city, known to all residents of Kharkiv,” Oleh Syniehubov, governor of Kharkiv region, wrote on Telegram. He said several floors had been destroyed.
The Derzhprom building, placed on the “tentative” list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, was completed in 1928 when Kharkiv was the capital of Soviet Ukraine.
The evening attack also hit a medical facility. Earlier strikes damaged an apartment building and storage space.
Eight were hurt in the city of Chuhuiv just to the southeast, Syniehubov said, an attack prosecutors said involved a multi rocket-launch system was used in Chuhuiv.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Kharkiv withstood an attempted Russian advance on the capital Kyiv in the early days of the war and has since been a frequent target of air assaults.
In the southern Kherson region, a drone attack killed a medic working on an ambulance crew, the regional governor said. Three people were killed in Kherson region on Sunday.
Russia has denied targeting civilians in its invasion, launched in February 2022, but regularly hits towns and cities behind the front line.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Dan Peleschuk; editing by Mark Heinrich, Ron Popeski, Alistair Bell and Lincoln Feast.)
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