KYIV, Ukraine, Jan 17, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - At least 17 people were wounded in
Russian strikes on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Tuesday evening, the
regional governor said.

Governor Oleg Synegubov said that the strikes hit residential buildings in
the city centre, injuring at least 17.

"Two women are in a serious condition," he added in a post on Telegram.

Synegubov said that according to preliminary information, the city was hit by
two S-300 missiles.

Kharkiv, just 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the border with Russia in
Ukraine's northeast, has come under frequent bombardment since Moscow decided
to invade in February 2022.

After the strikes, the city's mayor said that some residential buildings were
destroyed and that there were no military targets in the area.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow.

Earlier on Tuesday, authorities urged around 3,000 residents in more than two
dozen villages near the frontline in the wider Kharkiv region to evacuate,
citing escalating Russian attacks in the area.

A drone attack on Tuesday night also injured three civilians and damaged
residential buildings in the southern city of Odessa, according to the head
of the region's military administration, Oleg Kiper.

"A 62-year-old man was injured by shrapnel... A woman born in 1955 and a
young woman born in 1995 were wounded" were injured, he said.

Russia meanwhile said it had repelled an attack early Wednesday on its border
city Belgorod, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Kharkiv.

"Anti-aircraft defence destroyed seven Ukrainian missiles and four drones
over the Belgorod region," Russia's Defence Ministry said.

The region's governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said there were no immediate
casualties reported.

Russian forces captured swathes of the Kharkiv region shortly after invading
Ukraine in February 2022, and have kept up efforts to wrest the region
despite losing ground there.