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Kharkiv-based media report explosion in city centre

Explosion will be classified as terrorist act

© Archive EPA/TASS/SERGEI KOZLOV

KIEV, December 25. /TASS/. An explosion took place in central Kharkiv, Ukraine, in the small hours on Thursday, local media report.

The incident took place at about 00:10 a.m. local time (01:10 Moscow time) in Rymarskaya Street. The site was cordoned off by police. Fire brigades were summoned to the scene. No information about possible casualties is available.

So far, TASS has no official confirmation of these reports.

Explosion will be classified as terrorist act

The will be classified as terrorist act, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, wrote on his Facebook account.

“This explosion will be classified as a terrorist act aiming to destabilize the situation in Kharkiv,” he wrote.

According to Gerashchenko, the blast occurred in a furniture store, the owner of which helps servicemen involved in Kiev’s force operation in eastern Ukraine.

Gerashchnenko confirmed that no one had been hurt in the incident.

Other incidents in Kharkiv

In early November, 13 people were hurt in an explosion in a cafe in Kharkiv. In late November, an explosion was reported from Kharkiv’s electricity station located in the territory of a military hospital.

The regional prosecutor’s office qualified the incident as malicious mischief.

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