A MASSIVE explosion in Ukraine has sent a fireball and mushroom cloud into the sky after a suspected vacuum bomb was reportedly deployed near Kharkiv.
Terrifying footage taken from high-rise apartments shows the moment of the explosion, which is believed to have struck an airfield and ammo dump in Chuguev.
Reports suggest the Russians' target was a weapons depot in the city.
The blast wave from the explosion causes those filming to jump back.
Several clips have been shared online, some with the sound of aircraft, suggesting the airfield may have been bombed from the air.
There was speculation the blast may have been caused by the deadly vacuum bombs being deployed by the Russians.
Another blast was heard in the Sumy region in the northeast yesterday while Ukrainians claimed to have found parts of a vacuum bomb at Okhtyrka.
The killer weapon uses the oxygen of the surrounding air to produce a high-temperature explosion.
Western officials fear Putin will turn to total war and his attacks will also include other weapons such as the horrifying "hail" launchers, the BM-21 Grads.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said if Russia was using vacuum bombs against Ukrainian civilians it would "potentially be a war crime".
The explosion comes after at least ten people were killed and dozens injured in a Russian missile strike on the besieged city.
Kharkiv is the second-largest city in Ukraine and has seen some of the most vicious fighting of the invasion.
The bombs fell against after dozens of people were killed and wounded yesterday in seemingly indiscriminate shelling of civilians.
Footage showed the strike which turned the city's Freedom Square to rubble and devastated the nearby administration office.
Pictures show the aftermath as firefighters were left pulling bodies from inside the bombed-out building.
Most read in The Sun
GET OUT NOW 
Russia issues chilling warning for Ukrainians to flee parts of Kyiv NOW
Inside Billie Faiers' row with neighbours at £1.4m Essex mansion
I'm a mum and get threatened with social services over having UK's biggest EYEBROWS
Amanda Holden's daughter Lexi set for £1million deals in first year of modelling
Zelenskyy accused Russia of war crimes after the blitz and said the attack on Kharkiv was "state terrorism".
Kharkiv has been a target for Russian forces since Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine last Thursday.
? Read our Russia – Ukraine live blog for the very latest updates
"Kharkiv and Kyiv are now Russia's most important objectives. The terror aims to break us and break our resistance," said Zelensky.
"They advance on the capital in the same way as on Kharkiv. This is why the defence of the capital today is the key priority for the state," he added in the video.
Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said: "Barbaric Russian missile strikes on the central Freedom Square and residential districts of Kharkiv. Putin is unable to break Ukraine down.
"He commits more war crimes out of fury, murders innocent civilians. The world can and must do more.
It came after horrific videos emerged from Ukraine's second city showing apparently indiscriminate bombing of civilians.
It comes as…
- Russia issued a chilling warning for Ukrainians to flee parts of Kyiv ahead of another massive bombardment.
- Putin's nuclear forces held nuclear drills with subs and land-based missiles, the country's navy said.
- Ukraine claimed Belarus joined the invasion as its forces moved into Ukraine – despite saying it wasn't going to attack
- Russian marines mutinied on a warship as they refused to fight against Ukraine
- A boy is fighting for his life, unaware that his sister and parents were shot dead by Russians.
- Former army snipers are among dozens of British veterans vowing to take on Putin's invaders.
- Putin is feared to unleash his barbaric rocket weapons in a carpet bombing of Ukraine
- Boris Johnson accused Putin of killing children and using "barbaric" tactics in Ukraine
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of war crimes over the attacks of Kharkiv
- The Klitschko brothers are on a "kill list" of Ukrainians the Russians want dead
Footage showed a barrage of rockets or cluster bombs falling over residential areas in the city which has a large Russia-friendly population.
The midday raid left at least 11 dead, including three children – and other shelling also destroyed a school.
Kharkiv has been holding out staunchly against the Russian invaders even though it is just 25 miles from the border.
But this resistance appears to have led to Vladimir Putin unleashing a devastating blitz on the city's 1.5million people.
Regional governor Oleg Sinegubov said: "Russian occupiers continue to use heavy weaponry against the civilian population."
It came amid chilling warnings that Russian generals have been ordered to take the city at all costs.
Zelenskyy also spoke in a late-night address as he again accused Russia of war crimes.
The hero leader said: "Today, Russian forces brutally fired on Kharkiv from jet artillery. It was clearly a war crime.
Speaking on GMB, General Sir Adrian Bradshaw, former NATO deputy supreme commander, also accused Russia of using devastating vacuum bombs.
He said: "They're now into a bitter fight for the cities. This now turns to a very bitter different phase of the war.
"It must be exposed to the Russians. They're just getting propaganda, they need to be told the truth so that they understand what's being done in their name.
"They're using thermobaric weapons – it creates a fuel-air mixture, it sucks the oxygen out of the air around it, it creates a shockwave, it's highly destructive, affects anyone sheltering in cellars, its incredibly disruptive, that's why it's banned.
"Kharkiv is a peaceful city, there are peaceful residential areas, no military facilities.
"Dozens of eyewitness accounts prove that this is not a single false volley, but deliberate destruction of people: the Russians knew where they were shooting.
"There will definitely be an international tribunal for this crime — it's a violation of all conventions. No one in the world will forgive you for killing peaceful Ukrainian people."
"In terms of humane ways of fighting the war, they're out on a different scale"
All you need to know about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Everything you need to know about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine…
- Why is Russia invading Ukraine?
- Will the UK go to war?
- How can I join the Ukraine foreign legion?
- What can I do to help Ukraine?
- Who is Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy?
- How much gas does the UK get from Russia?
- Is Russia a part of Nato?
- Does Russia have nuclear weapons?
- Why is Ukraine not in Nato?
- How big is the Russian army?
- What is Article 5 of the Nato treaty?
- What is the Minsk agreement?
- Which countries were in the Soviet Union?
Ukraine's army says it fought off several attempts by Russian forces to storm the outskirts of Kyiv overnight with the capital also hit by three missile strikes.
Despite the Ukrainian's success in repelling all the attacks on Kyiv so far, US officials fear Putin's forces could still prevail, after re-thinking their tactics.
"They have been slowed and they have been frustrated by their lack of progress on Kyiv," said one unnamed official, CNN reports.
"And one of the things that could result is a re-evaluation of their tactics and the potential for them to be more aggressive and more overt in both the size and the scale of their targeting of Kyiv."
The Russians unleashed a devastating missile and rocket bombardment – as two-faced Kremlin officials met with a Ukrainian delegation to talk about peace.
With such an indiscriminate assault, it raises new fears amid the escalating violence in Ukraine – which has killed scores of civilians and a number of children.
"The Russian occupiers fired en masse on residential areas of Kharkiv. Dozens of dead and hundreds of wounded Ukrainian citizens," said the general staff of Ukraine.
Ukraine's former president Petro Poroshenko said: "We will never forget and forgive this crime against humanity – the showy executions of our Kharkiv by the Russians.
"With special cynicism and cruelty, the Hail destroyed civilian neighborhoods and houses."
Source: Read Full Article
