Kharkov is burning. New attack, 7 victims, fire

On the afternoon of May 23, Russia launched a series of massive attacks on Kharkov and the cities of Zolochev and Lyubotin in the Kharkov region.

Russia continues to capture Kharkov almost daily. On the morning of May 23, the invaders fired at least 15 missiles from the S-300 missile system at the city. According to the latest data, seven people died and 20 were injured.

Big fire

The Vivat printing house caught fire and there was a fire. There were 65 people in the printing shop at the time of impact.

“There is glue, paper, paint. Everything immediately caught fire. Firefighters working with special extinguishing equipment are complicated by smoke. The bodies are being pulled out little by little,” the BBC reported from the scene.

All the dead were civilians and worked at the affected business, among them five women and one man, and the details of another victim were established.

Vivat publishing house writes that it is “one of the largest full-cycle printing complexes in Europe, so books not only from Vivat publishing house are printed there, but also from almost all Ukrainian publishing houses .”

In addition, the civilian railway infrastructure in the Kharkov region was subjected to Russian attacks.

Ukrzaliznytsia clarified that “upon arrivals, the employees were in shelter, but six railway workers were injured.

Hits the spot

The Russians also attacked the city of Lyubotin, Kharkov region. In Lyubotin, the blow hit the central part of the city, reports the Kharkov Regional Prosecutor’s Office. The park, cars, shops and transport facilities were damaged.

On Thursday afternoon, the shooting continued: at around 14:00 local time, the Russian army launched a guided bomb attack on Kharkov and the village of Dergachi. In Dergachi, 13 people were injured, four of them were hospitalized.

“An extremely brutal attack by Russia against Kharkov and Lyubotin – according to preliminary data, 15 missiles at once. Unfortunately, there are dead and injured. Emergency services are at the hit sites that, and every victim will be given the necessary assistance,” said the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky.

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Air defense is needed

Zelensky noted that Russia is taking advantage of the fact that Ukraine is still deprived of adequate air defense protection and a reliable ability to destroy launchers near the Russian border.

“And this weakness is not our weakness, but the weakness of the world, which for the third year now did not dare to treat the terrorists exactly as they deserve,” said the President of Ukraine.

Zelensky has repeatedly publicly asked for two Patriot systems for Kharkov. But they were not found in the West. Germany’s initiative to provide Ukraine with an additional air defense system failed because other countries did not want to provide their air defense systems to Kyiv, Politico wrote.

So far, Berlin has pledged to provide three of its 11 Patriot batteries, as well as more than 50 shorter-range Gepard air defense systems and air-to-air missiles.

For weeks, senior German politicians – notably Foreign Minister Annalena Bärbock and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius – have been counting on allies to support such an initiative. However, the reaction of other countries was ineffective, the publication reports.

According to the publication, the allies do not want to give up the Patriot, in part because such systems are expensive – about $1 billion per unit, and each interceptor missile they fire costs millions of dollars.

Also, European countries fear weakening their own air defense systems, although Germany is already facing “a major capacity shortage due to support for Ukraine.”

Of the other European countries with Patriot, Spain and Greece have refused to redeploy their systems, although Madrid is sending the missiles. Poland also refused to move one of its batteries.

Romania, which was asked by US President Joe Biden to take such a step, also fears leaving the country without an air defense capability. Neutral Switzerland, according to Politico, has ordered five Patriot batteries, but has not yet announced its readiness to send its systems to Ukraine.

The problem, besides their cost, is that replacing a Patriot complex is estimated to take about two years.