Kharkiv region: school and house of culture destroyed, people wounded in Merefa shelling

Olena Roschina – Thursday, 17 March 2022, 07:18

In Merefa, a town in the Kharkiv region with the population of 20,000, Russian shelling at about 03:00 this morning destroyed a school and a house of culture [a traditionally multi-use community and leisure centre]. Neighbouring houses are damaged, several soldiers have been wounded.

Source: Veniamin Sitov, head of the Merefa community, on Suspilne

According to Sitov: "They hit the house of culture, it was razed to the ground. There were people inside. Thank god, there are no civilian victims, though there are military. Civilians managed to escape before the collapse. The [wounded] soldiers have been hospitalised."

Details: The buildings of the Institute of Vegetable and Melon Growing of the Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences located near the house of culture were also damaged.

The second attack targeted the school. No one was wounded or killed. The fire in the school is still being extinguished.

According to Sitov: "Next to the house of culture – the Institute of Vegetable and Melon Growing, no windows, no roof, everything around it destroyed…The second attack was on the school, the biggest school here, they hit its very centre. There was no one inside, but the school is currently on fire, it’s wooden, very old, we are extinguishing it."

Background: On the night of 2-3 March, Russian troops bombed the village of Yakovlivka in the Merefa community district: the entire village was destroyed with its 45 houses, 21 of which were razed to the ground. The bombardment wounded 24 people and killed 3, including 2 civilians and one serviceman.