Authorities say missile strike killed two people, including children

Ukrainian officials said a Russian attack on Kharkiv killed two people, including a three-year-old child, and injured about 28 others.

A multi-storey residential apartment building was almost completely destroyed in twin missile attacks on Friday afternoon, an attack that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called “heinous”.

The Russian Defense Ministry denied reports of an attack, saying the explosion was caused by the detonation of Ukrainian munitions.

The attack came ahead of intense talks on a U.S.-brokered peace plan in Kiev on Saturday.

Zelensky said that representatives from about 15 countries, as well as the European Union and NATO, are expected to participate in the talks, and that the U.S. delegation will participate via video link.

Leaders of the so-called coalition of the willing will meet in France on January 6.

Kharkiv officials said the bodies of a woman and a three-year-old child were found in the rubble, with preliminary information suggesting the two may be mother and son.

Zelensky wrote on

Of the 28 injured, including a 6-month-old baby, 16 have been taken to hospital.

According to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov, search and rescue operations are underway, with more than 80 volunteers working on the scene.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Telegram that its armed forces “neither planned nor carried out an attack using missile weapons or aircraft weapons in the city of Kharkiv.”

It added that footage before the attack showed “thick smoke of unknown origin” and said it was evidence of Ukrainian armed forces detonating munitions.

The ministry also claimed the reports were an attempt to divert attention from a New Year’s Eve attack on a hotel in a Russian-controlled area of ​​Ukraine’s southern Kherson region.

Russia blames Ukraine for killing at least 27 people and injuring more than 30 Others were involved in a drone attack on a New Year’s party in the Black Sea village of Holi.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify these claims or the number of casualties.

Ukraine told the BBC it would not respond directly to sources of information, such as claims from the governor of the occupied region.

It added that it adhered to the norms of international humanitarian law and carried out strikes exclusively against military targets.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened an investigation into the attack, while the Russian Foreign Ministry accused Zelensky of “trying to intimidate the people of the reunited Russian regions who have permanently tied their fate to Russia through the referendum”.