On 2nd January, Russian missiles hit the multi-storey apartment building in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, leaving the building in ruins and killing at least two and injuring an estimated 25 more people, Ukrainian authorities said.

The Russian refused to admit that the attack had occurred, implying that an explosion at the location was caused by the Ukrainian ammunition.

Pictures and videos shared on the Internet depicted smoke rising in one of the places of destruction, and emergency workers were walking through the rubble and big blocks of building materials.

In a letter on Telegram, Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said preliminary information indicated that a woman and her son were found under rubble.

Speaking previously on Ukrainian television, Syniehubov claimed that two ballistic missiles had hit the region and that they had almost destroyed a five-storey residential building.

“Fire brigade in operation, we have rescue teams,” he said. “They are mostly sweeping up debris and looking under the rubble.”

State Emergency Services of Ukraine claimed to be implementing a search for people whom it thought had remained trapped under the rubble of the building.

Syniehubov had previously reported 25 injuries, and 16 of them were in the hospital, including one woman in serious condition. He stated that the customers might have been shopping on the ground floor of the building and in a cafe when the explosion took place.

The Defence Ministry of Russia, when reporting on Telegram, had claimed that the bombing incident was false and had indicated that the explosion that occurred at the location had been due to the destruction of Ukrainian ammunition.

Video footage seconds before the blast, published by the site, shows heavy smoke of an unidentified nature, which to a high degree would suggest that an explosion in the stored Ukrainian military ammunition took place in the shopping centre known as the Persona.

The ministry claimed that the reports were aimed at diverting the attention of the world to a New Year’s Eve strike that the ministry had accused Ukraine of at a hotel in a Russian-controlled section of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine. Ukraine replied that it was targeting the Russian military and energy infrastructure.

On Friday, Russia-installed governor of that area, Vladimir Saldo, informed TASS news agency that the number of those killed during that incident had increased to 28.

Kharkiv, 30 km (18 miles) north of the border, was defended against the Russians in the initial weeks of the February 2022 Russian invasion of its smaller neighbour.

The city has been a common target of air attacks since the forces of Russia are concentrated on the eastern parts of the country.