Russian troops are increasing the use of artillery in the residential areas of Kharkiv, where a Russian reconnaissance group was defeated days earlier.
Until Monday, Russian forces used heavy weapons to a limited extent in populated areas but increased their use of artillery north of Kyiv and in the vicinity of Kharkiv and Chernihiv. The use of heavy artillery in densely populated urban areas greatly increases the risk of civilian casualties.
Ukrainian authorities in Kharkiv said they expect even more artillery shelling and bombing with the involvement of Russian aircraft. On Tuesday morning, the Russian military fired rockets at the building of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration.
Freedom Square in Kharkiv, one of the largest squares in Europe, also came under fire. The city administration building is located there. Video posted on social media showed that the volunteer tent in front of the administration was damaged.
"According to preliminary information, there is a hit in the Kharkiv Regional State Administration building, the Opera House, the Philharmonic and part of the residential area," the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU) said in a statement. "The State Emergency Service cannot be involved in the work due to shelling."
At least 10 people were killed and 35 wounded in rockets strikes by Russian forces on the centre of Kharkiv, Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said in a post on social media.
"The rubble is being cleared and there will be even more victims and wounded," he said. All Kharkiv residents are asked not to leave shelters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack an act of "undisguised terror."
"Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget," he asserted.
Oleg Sinigubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, reported that at night there was chaotic shelling in the region in all directions – Lipetsk, Belgorod, Chuguev and others. Sinigubov said Russia launched GRAD and cruise missiles on Kharkiv and was guilty of war crimes. He said the city defenses were holding.
"During the day, the firefighters of the region liquidated 24 fires caused by enemy shelling. Dozens of civilian cars burned, in the village of Rogan, a residential building caught fire as a result of shelling. One person was injured and one died," Sinigubov said. "As a result of shelling, eight people were injured and 35 people were evacuated along Koltsevaya Street. Houses were on fire in Izyum and Kharkiv districts," he added.
"Such attacks are genocide of the Ukrainian people, a war crime against the civilian population!" he said.
Some 24 fires caused by enemy shelling were extinguished in one day, 19 of them in Kharkiv, the SESU said. In addition, SESU pyrotechnic units of the carried out demining work: 69 explosive objects were neutralized.
According to the director of the American nonprofit military research and analysis organization CNA, Michael Kofman, by Monday the Russian army was not doing what it has always been taught.
“The Russian army, first of all, relies on artillery, and so far in this war it has used only part of the available fire weapons," he said. In his opinion, the Russian Ministry of Defense was trying to carry out "a full-scale invasion without a (real) military operation."
The abandonment of this approach and an increase in the use of artillery, including in populated areas, are inevitable, Kofman said.
Perhaps the shelling of Kharkiv with Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) is the first sign that the Russian army is ready to fight, "as it was taught," he added. This will inevitably lead to an increase in casualties among the civilian population.
