Russian airstrikes claim three lives, injure 24 in Kharkiv

Russian strikes killed three people and wounded at least 24 in the northeast Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Tuesday afternoon, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The northeastern city lies around 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the Russian border and has been pounded by Russian aerial attacks throughout the two-and-a-half-year war.

"The targets of the Russian bombs were an apartment building, a bakery, a stadium. In other words, the everyday life of ordinary people," Zelensky said in a post on social media.

He posted a picture showing the facade of a nine-storey apartment block partially ripped off, the windows blown out and debris strewn across the street.

A search and rescue operation was underway, he added.

"So far, we know of 3 killed and 24 injured," he said.

Zelensky, who is in the United States this week for the latest round of international diplomacy on the war, called for the United Nations General Assembly to discuss Russia's attacks on his country.

"We just need to stop the terror. To have security. To have a future. We need Russia to end this criminal and unprovoked aggression that violates all global rules," he said.