At least 21 dead after Russian shelling of east Ukraine town

(AFP) — At least 21 people were killed and 25 were injured on Thursday when Russian forces shelled a town in eastern Ukraine, local prosecutors said.

Artillery fire early Thursday hit a school and a cultural centre in the town of Merefa outside the city of Kharkiv, regional prosecutors said in a Facebook post.

In this handout picture taken and released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on March 17, 2022, firemen work to extinguish a fire at an educational institution hit by shelling in the town of Merefa in the Kharkiv region. Handout / State Emergency Service of Ukraine / AFP

Of the wounded, 10 people are in serious condition, they said.

A photo accompanying the prosecutors’ statement showed a building of several storeys that was destroyed in the middle with windows blown out and emergency workers combing through the wreckage.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city and some 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of Merefa, has been the scene of intense Russian air strikes in recent weeks and has been severely damaged.