On 16th April 2022, at 11:45 am, the Russian army allegedly launched Kalibr long-range cruise missiles at the Kharkiv region, hitting the districts of Sloboda and Osnovianskyi. Maksym Khoustov, director of the regional Department of Health, reported 18 injured.  Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, confirmed that the 18 wounded were being treated. However, Nastoyaschee vremia News reported that 30 were injured. The death toll was reported as one initially and then rose to two.

Twitter sources quoted a man whose friend was one of the people killed and he also reported that a 12 year old was wounded.

The rocket resulted in a large scale fire in an administrative building at the Osnoviansky district.  The State Emergency Services reported that 1500 square meters of the five story building were caught in the fire which also burned nine cars. The Services reported being able to evacuate 65 people in the area and firefighters put out the fire. The building was destroyed.  The rocket damaged nearby infrastructure including houses, cars, a market and shops including a pharmacy and the Proton shopping center. Suspilne News, Hromadske News, Kharkovskie izvestiya News all quoted this announcement. Vgorode and Suspile News specified that four neighbouring houses sustained damage and the market hit was a horse market. This detail was corroborated in pictures that sources submitted. Kharkiv Human Rights Union established that it had addresses for destroyed buildings but would not be publishing the information at the moment on request of the Ukranian military.

“Kharkiv Nash”, a Ukrainian Telegram channel based in Kharkiv with local correspondents in the city, acknowledged the strike but published conflicting comments about it. In one Telegram message, it claimed accounts of the damage were grossly exaggerated. In another it appeared to confirm the strike was Russian. The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, investigators of the SBU Office in Kharkiv region initiated a pre-trial investigation.

This incident has ACLED reference code UKR55925.

The incident occured at 11:45:00 local time.