Russia begin an attack on Ukrainian positions in Kharkiv

 Russian media said that the Russian army began an attack today, Friday, on Ukrainian army positions in Kharkiv, while Kyiv reported that two people were killed and more than 20 injured, in a Russian bombing of the city this morning.

The sources added that Russian forces advanced in some lines on the northeastern side of the city of Kubyansk in the Kharkiv axis, under heavy artillery and air bombardment.

Ministry of Defense also announced that it had confronted a Ukrainian drone boat in the Black Sea that was on its way to the Crimean Peninsula.

A spokesman for the Central Military District forces in the Russian army said that the Ukrainian army suffered heavy losses in troops and equipment, as a result of intense strikes by Russian artillery and warplanes.

Also in Kharkiv, the Ukrainian military administration said that a child and his grandmother were killed, and 23 were injured, in a Russian missile strike on the city this morning.

Ukrainian Interior Minister said that the raid also led to the death of the boy's grandmother, and emergency teams recovered a child from the rubble of buildings damaged by the bombing, which caused material damage to the city's neighborhoods.

Ukrainian officials said that preliminary information indicates that Russian forces used two "Iskander" missiles in this attack.

This bombing coincided with the funeral in Ukraine today, Friday, of 52 people, including a child, who were killed the previous day in a bombing of the small village of Groza in the east of the country, where they had gathered to attend a soldier’s memorial service.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is in Spain to attend a European summit, denounced the attack. United Nations, for its part, also referred to what it called a possible “war crime.”

The Ukrainian Air Force said on Friday morning that the Ukrainian air defense had destroyed 25 out of 33 Russian drones.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian government announced today, Friday, an exchange of bodies with Russia, where the remains of 64 soldiers were returned to Ukraine.

Along with another unspecified number of dead Russian soldiers were handed over to the other side by international law.

However, experts said there were far more exchanges that took place in the first year of the war.

In another development, Swedish Defense Minister Pal Johnson said on Friday that his country will send Ukraine a new military aid package worth 2.2 billion kroner ($199 million).

It consists mainly of artillery ammunition, adding that it will consider sending fighter aircraft.

Johnson stated in a press conference that the government had officially commissioned the armed forces to study whether Sweden would be able to send fighter planes from

Gas Gripen model to Ukraine, but he also reiterated that Sweden, for internal security reasons, needs to become a member of NATO before it sends any fighter jets.