Ukraine official says Russia strikes ‘absolute terrorism’

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian missiles pounded Ukraine’s second-largest city early on Monday, local administrator said, describing the attacks as “absolute terrorism.”

Governor of the Kharkiv region Oleh Syneihubov said on Telegram that the Russian forces only hit civilian targets in three missile strikes on the northeastern city. 

“All (three were launched) exclusively on civilian objects, this is absolute terrorism!” Syneihubov said. 

One of the missiles destroyed a school, another a residential building while the third landed near warehouse facilities, said Syneihubov. 

He said latest reports were that three people died and 28 were wounded in the attacks. 

The strikes came just two days after a Russian rocket attack smashed into apartment buildings in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 19 people. A total of eight people have been rescued, emergency officials said. 

The strike late Saturday destroyed three buildings in a residential quarter of the town of Chasiv Yar, inhabited mostly by people who work in nearby factories.

Russian attacks in the east also have continued, with the governor of the Luhansk region saying on Monday that the shelling hit settlements on the administrative border with the Donetsk region.

Russian forces carried out five missile strikes and four massive rounds of shelling in the are, Serhiy Haidai said. 

The Luhansk and Donetsk regions together make up Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland known as Donbas, where separatist rebels have fought Ukrainian forces since 2014.

Russia earlier this month captured the last major stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in Luhansk, the city of Lysychansk. 

After the seizure of Lysychansk some analysts predicted Moscow’s troops likely would take some time to rearm and regroup but Ukrainian officials said there has been no pause in attacks. 

The British military assessed that Russian troops weren’t getting needed breaks.

The Defense Ministry wrote on Twitter on Monday that online videos suggested at least one tank brigade in the war was “mentally and physically exhausted” as they had been on active combat duty since the start of the war in February.

The British said: “The lack of scheduled breaks from intense combat conditions is highly likely one of the most damaging of the many personnel issues the Russian (Ministry of Defense) is struggling to rectify amongst the deployed force.”

Also on Monday, the main Russian gas pipeline to Germany began a 10-day closure for maintenance amid European fears Moscow may not turn the flow back on after its completion.