Russian attacks on Orthodox Easter Sunday kill a woman in Kharkiv

Firefighters put out a fire after a house was hit by Russian shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday, May 4, 2024. ©Andrii Marienko/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved

The attack on Orthodox Easter Sunday - a day celebrated as Easter in both Russia and Ukraine – also injured 24 people in Ukraine's second-largest city and surrounding areas, regional officials said.

The Kharkiv and the adjacent Sumy region also saw power cuts after reports of drone attacks and explosions.

The largely Russian-speaking city of Kharkiv, just 40 kilometres from the Russian border has come under increasing attacks, with rising fears that it may become the next focal point of Russia’s military campaign.

The prosecutor’s office opened a criminal case over violation of laws of war.

Russia says it does not target civilian sites, but attacks have hit apartment blocks, schools and medical institutions.

Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov, writing on the Telegram messaging app also reported the death of an 88-year-old woman in the shelling of the village of Monachynivka, east of Kharkiv. Her body was recovered from the rubble of a house. Prosecutors said three people were injured.

Vadim Filashkin, head of the military administration in the Donetsk region, said two people were killed by shelling in the town of Pokrovsk and two injured in Chasiv Yar, west of the Russian-held town of Bakhmut.

© Euronews