Another body found under rubble of destroyed building in Kharkiv

According to preliminary information, the victim is a woman. Search-and-rescue operations are ongoing, Ihor Terekhov said.

Earlier, on January 2, rescuers recovered the body of a three-year-old boy from the rubble. The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office reported that the child’s mother is currently listed as missing.

Strike on Kharkiv

On January 2, Russian forces struck the city center of Kharkiv with two missiles. According to the regional prosecutor’s office, the attack involved Iskander ballistic missiles.

Initial reports said a residential high-rise building was hit and destroyed. Later уточнення confirmed damage to a five-storey building and part of the entrance section of a four-storey apartment block.

As of Friday evening, January 2, casualty figures remain inconsistent: the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported 31 injured, while the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, Oleh Syniehubov, cited 28 injured.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the strike on Kharkiv once again demonstrates Russia’s intent to prolong the war and undermine diplomatic efforts by international partners, particularly the US, aimed at ending the conflict.

Russian sources, meanwhile, attempted to portray the attack as a supposed Ukrainian provocation, a narrative previously promoted by Moscow after strikes on residential areas in Dnipro, Odesa, Kramatorsk, and other cities.