(Previous Incident Code: RUK0165)

On the afternoon of April 23, there were reports of shelling by Russian forces in Kharkiv. This took place in Saltivka, an area within the city’s North Eastern Kyivskiy district, and reportedly resulted in four civilian injuries, including an elderly woman and those trying to rescue her, classifying this incident as a double tap strike. This has been reported by Ukrainian officials, local news outlets, and social media users.

Details of this attack were reported via @prokuratura_kharkiv, a Telegram channel operated by the office of Kharkiv’s regional prosecutor. According to a message posted to this channel, “on April 23, 2022, the Russian military carried out an artillery attack on the Kyivskyi district of Kharkiv. As a result of the shelling, a 62-year-old woman was injured.” The same source added that emergency services personnel were injured when responding to this event, stating “When the police arrived at the scene of the shelling, they began to help with the transportation of the wounded woman. However, the Russian occupiers opened fire again in the area. As a result, three law enforcement officers were wounded.” As Ukrainska Pravda reported, this version of events was also communicated on Telegram by Oleg Sinegubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration.

Photos and video footage uploaded to Twitter and Telegram show significant damage to commercial and residential buildings in the area. A video posted to YouTube by the local outlet Public Kharkiv shows emergency services extinguishing numerous fires following the shelling.

Two videos posted by a known Russian source (@frmPFHOYKhUBtUL) accused Ukrainian forces of bombing Kharkiv but did not give any specific information about where or whether casualties resulted.

This assessment has reference to ACLED code UKR56371.