Russian missile attack on Ukraine's Kharkiv kills five, causes fire

KHARKIV, Ukraine, March 20 (Reuters) - A Russian missile hit an industrial area in Ukraine's northern city of Kharkiv on Wednesday, killing at least five people and injuring eight while causing a major fire in a printing house, local authorities said.

The mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, said five people were missing after the strike.

The Kharkiv region, which borders Russia to the north and lies close to the front line, has suffered regular drone and missile attacks during Russia's two-year-old invasion.

The X-59 missile struck the multistorey industrial building in the afternoon.

"The building houses production facilities and offices. This is an act of terrorism because it was conducted at a time when the vast majority of the people are at work," Volodymyr Tymoshko, head of the regional police, was quoted as saying on a police account on Telegram.

"In addition to the five dead, there are another five who are missing," Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram.

"We have identified them, but they are not among either the injured or the dead."

Terekhov said the fire, which had spread quickly, had been almost brought under control at the site.

One of the reasons for the severe fire was that a printing house was located in the building, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov said.

A furniture and paint products factory also came under the attack, Serhiy Bolvinov, the head of the investigative department of the regional police, said.

Moscow denies deliberately attacking civilians in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine which it launched in February 2022, although many have been killed in frequent Russian air strikes across the country.