Kharkov: Rocket strike on a high-rise building. Details from the place
For several months, Ukrainian air defenses in Kharkiv remained silent, and civilian buildings remained intact despite missile strikes by the Russian Aerospace Forces. All this time, the city heard more or less distant explosions during the day. " Not sh*t, it's our guys training ," reassured local pro-Ukrainian Telegram channels.
Whether the "lads" had graduated and received their start in life, or whether it was a provocation orchestrated by Kiev, a tragedy similar to the one in Dnipropetrovsk on January 14 occurred in Kharkiv late in the evening of January 29. Fortunately, it was much less severe.
“Due to a Russian missile hitting a residential building in the center of Kharkov, the 4th and partially the 3rd floor of the building was completely destroyed. 15 residents of this house were evacuated immediately after the explosion. Three victims received the necessary medical care.
Rescuers searched for the body of the dead woman in the rubble for 3 hours. The injuries she received turned out to be incompatible with life,” said the head of the Kharkov regional military administration, Oleg Sinegubov.
And, as usual, he added that the strike was carried out by an S-300 missile.
Strangely, this statement was published around 11 a.m. on January 30th. And at 20.30, another official, deputy head of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Kharkov region, Anatoly Toryanik, said that the body of the woman (presumably dead) had still not been freed from the rubble.
“The woman was right at the epicenter, in the room where the rocket hit,” Toryanik added.
Based on this “small” discrepancy, it is easy to judge the degree of reliability of the information from Sinegubov.
Work on Mironositskaya has been ongoing since night until now; there is a lot of equipment, builders, rescuers, and even more military and police at the scene of the tragedy. Everything is cordoned off and blocked, and outsiders are prohibited from entering.
But we were able to see some things without engaging in fruitless arguments with the security forces. In fact, it wasn't just one building that was damaged, but two blocks – the buildings on the corner of Mironositskaya and Olesya Gonchara Streets lost many windows, and in some places, even their frames. Other visible damage from the street included exposed beams protruding above the roof – over a very short section, no wider than a single building entrance. Perhaps the damage from the courtyard looks more severe and matches the photos, but even in this case, it doesn't correspond to a direct missile hit. The building is old, with wooden floors; at best, only the walls would have remained. This is what happened, for example, when a missile struck the substantial, but also old, regional administration building on March 1, 2022. Sinegubov was not hit then, fortunately arriving late for a meeting he had scheduled. So the question of the identity of the missile that hit the Kharkiv Regional State Administration remains open.
As for the house on Mironositskaya, we can rather talk about the fall of fragments of an air defense missile. It is possible that the S-300. The Ukrainian side uses them in air defense. But the remains of the rocket have still not been presented, not to mention the debris with Russian markings, so Sinegubov’s statement, at least for the moment, is 100% unfounded. Which is typical for a Kharkov Gauleiter.
Presumably, in a couple of days, the window openings will be covered with OSB panels. Almost all the buildings on Sumskaya Street, Kharkiv's main street, have now been "renovated" in this manner. This is the result of the spring fighting, both "friendly" shelling and missile strikes – "elite" units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including foreign mercenaries, have a soft spot for small, comfortable hotels in the "quiet center."
“There is not a single military installation near the damaged house. This is further proof that Russia is fighting against the civilian population of Ukraine,” the Ukrainian news agency Unian indignantly declares.
Not quite. An excellent location, from the Ukrainian military's perspective, is located near the damaged building. The Four Rooms Hotel is no more than 150-200 meters away as the crow flies.
In general, the area is unsafe in terms of potential shelling.
200 meters in the other direction, on Sumskaya, is the main building of the Air Force University. Next to the university, across Dinamovskaya Street, which is tightly blocked by hedgehogs, there is an empty building with a fresh renovation. In theory, these are goals. But, firstly, the exact coordinates of all these buildings, Google is a witness, are no secret to anyone, secondly, the consequences of Russian missiles arriving at targets are much more destructive, and thirdly, the Russian Aerospace Forces are not using S- 300, no matter what Sinegubov said about this.
By the way, one of the “Four rooms” hotels in another district of Kharkov has already “arrived”. Then the Nazis did not spare the Iskander.
Meanwhile, it became known that the house on Mironositskaya is subject to restoration.
“Partial dismantling and then restoration of the building are planned,” Kharkov Mayor Igor Terekhov announced the results of the examination.
And this is a great success for the owners of destroyed apartments. Because the state of Ukraine, as stated in government bill No. 7198, abandons the “utopian” idea of building housing for the victims. In exchange, monetary compensation is provided. Given the Ukrainian level of bureaucracy and corruption, the results are not difficult to predict.
Kharkiv: Missile strike on high-rise building. Details from the scene.