Russian attack on Ukraine's Kharkiv kills six

A Russian missile attack on Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv killed at least six people and wounded at least 11 on Thursday, local authorities said.

The attack damaged transport and municipal infrastructure and destroyed a printing house, causing a fire, the mayor of Kharkiv and the region's governor said.

Smoke poured from one of the printwork buildings and the smell of burning wood filled the air as rescuers hauled bodies in plastic bags out of the building, a Reuters correspondent on the scene reported.

"This is a purely civilian site, it is a printworks that prints books," regional police chief Volodymyr Tymoshko told reporters at the scene. Tymoshko said two missiles had hit the printworks' premises, with one landing nearby.

Oleksandr Filchakov, head of the Kharkiv region prosecutor’s office, said about 50 people had been in the printworks when it was hit. Kharkiv is a hub of Ukraine's publishing industry, which has kept working despite power outages and intensifying Russian strikes.

Kharkiv city mayor told national television that 15 missiles had been used in the attack, based on preliminary information. The missile attack also injured seven people in the Kharkiv district, the governor said.

Russia has stepped up its attacks on Ukraine's northeastern region this spring, pummelling its energy and transport infrastructure using guided bombs, missiles and drones.