Russian strikes on Friday killed at least four people in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, including a young girl at a playground, the city’s mayor said.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, lies around 40 km (25 miles) from the Russian border and has been bombed persistently by Russian forces since they launched their invasion in February 2022.

“In the Nemyshlyansky district, the occupants killed a child right at a playground. A girl. At least three more people in the area were wounded,” Mayor Igor Terekhov wrote on social media.

He said at least another three people were killed by a hit on a high-rise building in the city’s Industrialny district.

An AFP journalist in the city reported hearing loud explosions in the Nemyshlyansky district.

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The governor of the region, Oleg Synegubov, said at least 28 people had been wounded in the attacks and that medics were responding at the scenes.

Unverified images circulating on social media showed large plumes of grey smoke billowing from a Soviet-era residential building and a blaze ripping through the upper floors.

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