A Russian-guided bomb late Wednesday crashed into a five-story apartment building in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, bursting into fires and injuring at least ten people, including a 10-year-old child, local officials say. The attack is the latest in a series of strikes on civilian infrastructure as the war in Ukraine moves into its third year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy strongly condemned the attack and renewed calls for greater support from Western allies. He mentioned, “Ukraine needs stronger and more timely global aid. 

Citing the developments surrounding the conflict in the Middle East, Zelenskyy compared it with efforts taken by Israel’s allies who reacted in a well-orchestrated way to Iranian missile attacks: “Ukraine needs the required, and most importantly, enough assistance from the world, from our partners,” he said in an article released through his Telegram channel. “Every leader knows just what needs to be done. It is important to be decisive.”

The bomb hit the apartment block between the third and fourth floors of a building in the Saltivka district of Kharkiv, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov. According to him, citing his sources, several floors have been destroyed, with search and rescue operations underway and people potentially trapped under the rubble. Syniehubov posted an online video on social media from a location near the wreckage, showing smoke and debris as response teams combed through the site.

Images on social media showed cars blazing outside the building as firefighters were trying to get inside and fight the smoke. The mayor of Kharkiv said the strike injured ten people, including a three-year-old child. He reported that two guided bombs hit different districts of the city.

Kharkiv has often been under attack since the beginning of the war, and it is located only 30 kilometres from the Russian border. A great amount of residential territory and critical infrastructure in many cities have been battered repeatedly by Russian attacks. They deny civilian targets but attack towns and cities behind the front line regularly.

Fragments from a downed Russian drone caused damage to an apartment building in Kyiv, which is one of the eastern districts of the capital. According to the head of Kyiv’s military administration, “Fortunately, there are no casualties.”. He called for a similar coordinated effort to help Ukraine, echoing remarks made earlier in the year to express the need for cooperation in the face of aggression.

 Zelenskyy also underlined that the meeting in Germany later would focus on military aid for Ukraine, which U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to attend.

Such persisting violence only underlines the need for Ukraine to demand more military aid so that it can protect itself against the continued air and missile attacks that Russia continues to launch, for civilian areas remain threatened all the time.