Russia pounds Ukraine's Kharkiv, presses Donbas assault

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated accusations that Moscow is carrying out a "genocide" in Donbas, saying its bombardment could leave the entire region "uninhabited".

Ukraine's second city Kharkiv on May 27 reeled from a deadly onslaught of Russian shelling as Moscow pressed its offensive to capture key points in the eastern Donbas region with more bombing of residential areas. The pounding of Kharkiv, which according to local officials left at least nine people dead, raised fears that Russia had not lost interest in the city even after Ukraine took back control after fierce battles.

Over three months after Russia launched its invasion on February 24 — and which has left thousands dead on both sides and displaced millions of Ukrainian civilians — Moscow is focussing on the east of Ukraine after failing in its initial ambition to capture Kyiv.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated accusations that Moscow is carrying out a "genocide" in Donbas, saying its bombardment could leave the entire region "uninhabited".

Oleg Sinegubov, the regional governor of Kharkiv which lies to the north of the Donbas region, said that nine civilians had been killed in the Russian shelling on Thursday. A five-month-old child and her father were among the dead, while her mother was gravely wounded, he said on social media channels.

An AFP reporter in the city said the northern residential district of Pavlove Pole was hit and saw plumes of smoke rising from the area. The journalist saw several people wounded near a shuttered shopping centre, while an elderly man with injuries to his arm and leg was carried away by medics.

Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov said the northeastern city's metro, which resumed work this week after being used mainly as a shelter since the Russian invasion, would continue operating, but also offer a safe space for residents.

In Donbas, Russian forces were closing in on several cities, including strategically located Severodonetsk and Lysychansk which stand on the crucial route to Ukraine's eastern administrative centre in Kramatorsk. Pro-Russian separatists said they had captured the town of Lyman that lies between Severodonetsk and Kramatorsk and is on the road leading to the key cities that are still under Kyiv's control.