Kyiv March 2 2022: Ukraine’s military has confirmed earlier reports that Russian paratroopers had landed in Kharkiv in an effort to take the besieged city.
According to the Ukrainian military, the aerial assault began just as air raid sirens were starting to sound in Kharkiv and the surrounding region.
The statement adds that the Russian troops attacked a regional military hospital, and that fighting is ongoing.
It is currently just after 06:00 in the mostly Russian-speaking city.
Kharkiv has been the epicentre of much of the violence seen in Ukraine in recent days.
On Tuesday, a missile struck the local government headquarters of Ukraine’s second-largest city around 08:00 local time, sending a massive fireball into the sky and burning cars and nearby buildings.
Another strike occurred later on Tuesday in one of Kharkiv’s residential neighborhoods. Ukrainian President Zelensky later called the attack a war crime.
At least 17 people were killed in Kharkiv on Tuesday, and dozens wounded, according to emergency officials.
Some pundits have speculated that the artillery strikes on residential communities could be an effort by Russia to weaken the Ukrainian resolve to fight.
