Russian missiles hit Ukraine hotel, 11 injured – regional governor
Rescuers stand at the site in the aftermath of a Russian missile strike on a hotel in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in this handout image released January 11, 2024. State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS
Two Russian missiles struck a hotel late on Wednesday in the center of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, injuring 11 people, one person seriously, the regional governor said.
Pictures online showed many windows blown out and balconies destroyed with large piles of rubble in the street below. Emergency teams made their way through gaping holes in the facade to sift through rubble inside.
Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synehubov wrote on Telegram that the strike at about 10.30 p.m. local time involved S-300 missiles in the city’s Kyiv district.
“Nine of those injured have been taken to medical facilities,” Synehubov wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “One of them, a 35-year-old man, is in serious condition.” Visiting Turkish journalists were among the injured, he wrote.
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“One missile hit next to the hotel, right by a fence. The other one hit a nearby annex,” Kharkiv Police Chief Volodymyr Tymoshko told public broadcaster Suspilne.
“Servicemen never stayed in this hotel, and just about everyone in Kharkiv knows this. It was used by journalists.”
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Oleksandr Filchakov, head of the Kharkiv prosecutor’s office, said in a video on Telegram that 23 guests and eight staff members were in the hotel when the missiles struck.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said several homes in the district had been damaged, including a manufacturing plant and a car showroom.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
