Russia pounds Kharkiv with missiles and drones, Ukraine says

Russia pounded the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv with missiles and drones in the hours leading into New Year's Eve, Ukrainian officials said,

Russia pounded the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv with missiles and drones in the hours leading into New Year's Eve, Ukrainian officials said, hours after Moscow accused Kyiv of carrying out a deadly air assault just across the border on nearby Belgorod. 

In the first wave of Russia's attacks, at least six missiles hit Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Sunday (Dec 31), injuring at least 28 people and hitting residential buildings, hotels and medical facilities.

Earlier, Ukrainian officials said that two boys aged 14 and 16 and a security adviser for a team of German journalists were among those injured in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.

Closer to midnight, as part of a wider bombardment of Ukraine that also targeted Kyiv, several waves of Russian drones hit residential buildings in Kharkiv's centre, causing fires, the city's mayor said.