Russia strikes Ukraine’s Kharkiv with aerial bombs for the first time since 2022 WSOC TV [Video]

KYIV, Ukraine — (AP) — Russia struck the northeastern city of Kharkiv with aerial bombs Wednesday for the first time since 2022, killing at least one civilian and wounding 16 others, local officials said.

The airstrikes caused widespread damage, hitting several residential buildings and damaging the city’s institute for emergency surgery.

Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukraine in recent days, launching several missile barrages on the capital Kyiv and hitting energy infrastructure across the country in apparent retaliation for recent Ukrainian aerial attacks on the Russian border region of Belgorod. Such sporadic attacks, however, have been common throughout the war.

The Kharkiv region cuts across the front line where Ukrainian and Russian forces have been locked in battles for over two years since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The region is frequently attacked with missiles and drones.

Sergey Bolvinov, head of the investigative police department in …