More than 500 civilians have been killed in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion

More than 500 civilians, including 24 children, have been killed in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24, the region's governor, Oleg Sinegoubov, said Thursday.

“Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, 503 civilians, including 24 children, have died,” the governor of the region, whose capital, Kharkiv, was heavily bombed by the Russian army, said in a video posted on his Telegram channel.

In the past 24 hours, the region suffered 34 attacks, leaving one dead and eight injured, Sinegoubov said.

Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, with a population of almost 1.5 million inhabitants before the war, is located about 40 kilometers from the Russian border. It was the subject of intense fighting for several days at the start of the Russian invasion on 24 February, but it has always remained under the control of Ukrainian forces.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is still waiting for the final offensive of Russian troops in the Donbas, where attempts to capture Mariupol continue and where the authorities admitted that some soldiers surrendered, but no more than a thousand as Russia claims.

“The enemy continues to increase its air grouping near the eastern border of our country, increasing artillery forces and optimizing command systems,” reported the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army in one of the warlike parties.

According to the Ukrainian military, the Russians “continue to systematically launch missile and bomb attacks against military and civilian infrastructure in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zapariya regions.”

In addition, they strengthen the Russian grouping near Severodonetsk, in the Lugansk region, and continue the assault on the port city of Mariupol.

The United Kingdom, which publishes daily reports on the situation in Ukraine, said today that the cities of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka, in the Donetsk region, may be the new targets of Russian troops.

The Government of Ukraine announced on Thursday the opening of a total of nine humanitarian corridors in the country, most of them in areas of the east and south, having kept them closed yesterday in the face of the intensity of hostilities.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereschuk announced the opening of nine humanitarian corridors to allow the evacuation of citizens from areas most affected by the conflict and bring essential goods.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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