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Five people were killed and at least 13 wounded Sunday in shelling in Kharkiv, the Ukrainian government said — the latest attack in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops are expected to intensify their offensive in the days ahead.
The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office said on Telegram that authorities are investigating the early-afternoon attack, which damaged residential and city buildings.
In video remarks on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lamented the “constant shelling” in Kharkiv. He described the attacks as “nothing but deliberate terror.”
The most recent strikes, he said, held symbolic significance — Russian forces hit three streets with the names Culture, Shevchenko and Darwin, according to Zelensky.
“Apparently, these are especially dangerous words for Russia,” he said, adding: “This is something that threatens its existence.”
Though he did not specify which Shevchenko, Zelensky may have been referring to 19th-century Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko.
Earlier Sunday, Oleg Sinegubov, the head of Kharkiv’s regional administration, said three people were killed and 31 injured in Russian shelling over the previous 24 hours. He appealed to those still in the Kharkiv region to avoid being out on the streets.
Moscow’s forces have been massing around Izyum, a city about 70 miles southeast of Kharkiv, as Russia refocuses on eastern Ukraine.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based public policy research nonprofit, said Saturday that Russian forces around Kharkiv “generally held their positions,” though Ukrainian officials said this weekend that they had regained some territory.
Annabelle Chapman contributed to this report.