An Explosion Occurred in Kharkiv, Ukraine
An explosion was reported in the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian publication “Suspilni Novyny” (Public News).
The mayor of Kharkiv, Igor Terekhov, later confirmed the incident.
Prior to this, an air alarm was raised in five eastern regions of Ukraine.
Air alarms were reported in the Sumy, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, and Kharkiv regions, as well as in the territories controlled by the Ukrainian government in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) and the Zaporizhia region. In the Dnipropetrovsk region, the alarm was sounded at 23:34 Moscow time, followed by sirens in the Kharkiv region at 23:38. At 23:47, the red areas on the alarm map were joined by the Sumy, Kirovohrad, and Kharkiv regions of Ukraine.
Russian military forces have been striking Ukrainian infrastructure since October 2022, shortly after the explosion on the Crimean Bridge. Since then, air alarms have been regularly declared in various regions of Ukraine, often across the entire country. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the attacks are aimed at targets in the energy sector, defense industry, military command, and communication.
Earlier, the office of President Zelensky threatened Russia with retaliation for the explosions in Ukraine.
[Additional Context: It is important to note that tensions have been high between Ukraine and Russia since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. The conflict escalated in 2022, leading to a full-scale war between the two countries. Russia’s actions in Ukraine have been widely criticized by the international community, with the United States and its NATO allies imposing sanctions on Russia in response to its aggression.]
