Two Russian missiles hit a hotel in Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv, today, wounding 11 people. This was reported, according to the latest news of today 11 January 2024, by Governor Oleh Synehubov, adding that among the injured there are Turkish journalists. Two S-300 missiles hit the building around 10.30 pm.
In the last two weeks Russia has intensified airstrikes on Ukrainian cities, causing dozens of civilian deaths in raids conducted with drones and missiles. Kharkiv, just 30km from the Russian border, has suffered extensive damage from Russian airstrikes since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In the latest raid, nine injured people were taken to hospital, including a 35-year-old man in serious condition, the governor said on Telegram. The city's mayor, Ihor Terekhov, quoted by the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN, reported that “there were no military personnel” in the hotel at the time, but there were 30 civilians. He said several homes and cars nearby were also damaged.
Finland will keep its border crossings closed for another month
The Finnish government has decided to keep the border crossings with Russia closed for another month. This was stated by the Finnish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sari Essayah, candidate for the presidency of Finland, in an interview with the Yle television channel. In November 2023, Finland closed all eight highway crossings on its eastern border, saying the decision was motivated by Russia's alleged campaign to allow migrants from third countries to reach the Finnish border. Two crossings were opened on December 12 only to be closed again on December 14 for a period of one month “for security reasons”, according to the Finnish side. On January 9, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said that Helsinki would not reopen border crossings after January 14. The government was also expected to take a decision on the matter on January 11.
According to the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, Finland's decision to close border crossings is creating new dividing lines in Europe and that Moscow will respond to these actions.
Putin: “We are Europe's leading economy despite pressure”
Russia has become the first European economy and the fifth in the world in terms of purchasing power parity. President Vladimir Putin stated this in a meeting with entrepreneurs from the Russian Far East. “It seems that we are being strangled and under pressure from all sides, but we are still the largest economy in Europe – added Putin – We have left Germany behind us and risen to fifth place in the world in terms of GDP with equal power of purchases, after China, the United States, India and Japan. We are number one in Europe.” “We have left all of Europe behind in terms of purchasing power parity, but as regards the per capita indicator we need to work harder. There is still work to be done,” added the head of state.
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