Police station in Kharkiv is engulfed in flames after Russian missile attack

A regional police department in Kharkiv was engulfed in flames on Wednesday after a Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city.

Firefighters were seen fighting the blaze when part of the structure collapsed. It was not immediately clear whether there were casualties in the attack on the police station.

At least 21 people were killed and 112 injured in shelling in Ukraine’s second-largest city in the past 24 hours, regional governor Oleg Synegubov said on Wednesday.

Authorities said Russian missile attacks hit the center of Kharkiv, including residential areas and the regional administration building.

Attacks this Wednesday (2)

The National University of Kharkiv was also the target of a military attack on Wednesday, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service and images geolocated by the Ukraine. CNN. The Mariupol city council also said the city to the south was under Ukrainian control, but locked in battles with Russian troops.

The Russian Defense Ministry also announced on Wednesday that the armed forces had taken over the city of Kherson. Ukrainian officials countered and said they are still in control of the southern region.

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden announced the closure of US airspace to Russia – further isolating the country from Vladimir Putin.

Highlights from the last 24 hours

UN: Nearly 836,000 refugees have left Ukraine since the start of the war

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on Wednesday that 835,928 refugees had left Ukraine since February 24. More than half of them (453,982) fled through Poland. Another 116,348 went to Hungary, says UNHCR.

Another 96,000 people moved to the Russian Federation from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions between 18 and 23 February. These two regions are controlled by Russian-backed separatists. The Kremlin in February recognized them as independent states.