KYIV, Ukraine — (AP) — Russian missiles slammed into Ukraine’s second-largest city in the country’s northeast and killed at least seven civilians early Thursday, officials said, as Kyiv’s army labored to hold off an intense cross-border offensive by the Kremlin’s larger and better-equipped forces.
At least 20 people were wounded as S-300 missiles struck the city of Kharkiv, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said. Explosions reverberated around the city of some 1 million people.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack “extremely cruel” and expressed renewed frustration at not getting enough air defense systems from the country’s Western partners to prevent the barrages after more than two years on unrelenting war.
The city of Kharkiv, which is the capital of the region of the same name, is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Russian border. Moscow’s troops have in recent weeks captured villages in the area as part of a broad push, and analysts say …