In broad daylight, a Russian missile strike killed at least four people and injured 16 on Monday, May 4, in the city of Merefa, the governor of the Ukrainian region of Kharkiv announced. “The victims are men aged 50 and 63 and women aged 41 and 52,” Oleg Synegoubov wrote on Telegram. Three of the injured are in serious condition.
The strike damaged houses, residential buildings, shops, and a gas station, the governor said, while sharing images of buildings torn apart and a burnt car. Merefa, with a population of about 20,000, is located about 15 kilometers from Kharkiv, the capital of the eponymous region and the second-largest city in Ukraine.
For over four years, the country has been fighting against a large-scale Russian invasion, with the Kharkiv region, bordering Russia, being regularly targeted by Russian attacks. A significant portion of this region was initially occupied by the Russian army at the beginning of the war in 2022, but was largely recaptured by Ukrainian forces.
