Dozens of Ukrainian civilians have been killed and hundreds left wounded after a 'massive' Russian missile strike on Kharkiv, the country's second largest city.
Horrific images, which the Mirror has chosen not to show, emerged from the bloody attack showing the dead and wounded as Russian Grad missiles rained down on apartment blocks.
A woman reportedly had her legs torn off in an attack that saw dozens die as Putin's troops are thought to be using unguided Grad rockets or banned cluster bombs to indiscriminately fire on residential areas.
In a post on Facebook, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry spokesman Anton Gerashchenko said: “Kharkiv has just been hit by a massive Grad rocket attack.
“Dozens of dead and probably hundreds of wounded. Ambulances are on their way to the scene of the tragedy.”
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The official account of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine tweeted: "The Russian occupiers fired en masse on residential areas of Kharkiv. Dozens of dead and hundreds of wounded Ukrainian citizens."
A woman was pictured laying in the entrance of an apartment block, as the remnants of one missile lay outside.
Other videos show the tails of rockets, some buried in the ground, which had rained down on Kharkiv.
The awful attack comes on the fifth day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, where countless have and continue to die.
At least 14 children have been amongst the dead in Ukraine, meanwhile Russia has reported heavy casualties amongst its invading army.
As the scale of the attack was confirmed, delegations from Ukraine and Russia sit down today to discuss a possible peaceful solution to the ongoing invasion.
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that the goal of these talks for his country was an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine.
The brutal bombardment came shortly after Russian troops were pushed back out of the city, ending street-to-street fighting between the opposing armies.
Last night, thousands in Kharkiv hid in basements and shelters as the city was relentlessly shelled.
Today, the Ministry of Defence tweeted out its latest intelligence update on the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
It said that the main body of Putin's ground forces are still more than 30km outside of Kyiv.
Their advance has been slowed by Ukrainian resistance defending the Hostomel airfield, which they said was a key objective Russia had hoped to take on the first day of the conflict - last Thursday.
Heavy fighting continues around Chernihiv and Kharkiv without any falling into Russian control and a mixture of “logistical failures and staunch Ukrainian resistance continue to frustrate the Russian advance."
They added: “Despite continued attempts to supress details of the conflict from the Russian population, the Russian Armed Forces has for the first time been forced to acknowledge suffering casualties.”
