Russia targets rescue workers in ‘double tap’ air strike in Kharkiv

Russia targeted rescue workers in a “double tap” air strike on an apartment building in Kharkiv that killed at least five people.

Vladyslav Logienko, 52, a firefighter, was one of the first on the scene early on Thursday morning after an Iranian-designed Shahed drone smashed into a multi-storey apartment building in Ukraine’s second-largest city.

He was one of three rescue workers killed when Russian forces launched another drone at the same building in a repeat attack branded “despicable and cynical” by Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine’s defence ministry later shared footage of Mr Logienko’s son arriving at the scene as part of the rescue effort.

Fellow rescue workers attempted to comfort him as he threw off his helmet to wipe away the tears from his face.

In addition to the three rescue workers, at least two civilians were killed and 12 more injured in the “double tap” strike, Oleh Syniehubov, Kharkiv’s regional governor, said.

One of the drones used in the attack bore the inscription “For Crocus City Hall”, the news outlet Noel Reports said.

Moscow has sought to blame Ukraine for the terror attack, which Western officials have insisted was carried out by ISIS-K militants with no links to Kyiv.

The first Russian drone hit the city at 1am on Thursday, damaging several homes and a 14-storey high-rise building, he said.

This was followed by two more strikes less than an hour later that killed the rescue workers.

“Double tap” strikes are designed to hit rescuers responding to an attack. The tactics were a defining element of Moscow’s aerial campaign in Syria and have since been used in Ukraine.

They are designed to sew further terror among the civilian populations in the line of fire.

At least 20 Shahed drones were fired overnight by Russian forces in the latest salvo, Ukrainian officials said.

The air force reported that 11 of the munitions were shot down.

Responding to the strike, Mr Zelensky wrote on social media: “A strike on Kharkiv, just an ordinary apartment building. With three Shaheds.

“A despicable and cynical attack, when the rescuers arrived at the scene of the strike, the terrorists attacked again.”

Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s interior minister, described it as a “surgical strike”.

It was suggested that newer, jet-powered Shahed drones, more capable of evading local air defence units, were used in the attack.

A senior Ukrainian source said the newer Shahed-238 models that have been downed over Ukraine are capable of flying “500km per hour – almost three times the speed of Shahed-136”.

The newer drones are also painted black, which makes them harder to spot by search parties scanning the sky for enemy aircraft.

More than 350,000 Kharkiv residents were hit by power outages after the strikes, Ukraine’s energy ministry reported, after the Zmiivska power plant to the south of the city was hit.

Moscow also targeted power infrastructure in the neighbouring Sumy region, killing a 47-year-old worker, the energy ministry said.

Russian forces have increased attacks on Kharkiv in recent weeks.

The Kremlin is under pressure from pro-war nationalists to create a “buffer zone” that is capable of pushing Ukrainian artillery units far enough back to prevent them hitting the Russian mainland.