OSCE says member of its Ukraine mission died in Kharkiv bombing

A Ukrainian member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s monitoring mission was killed in a bombing while collecting supplies for her family, the international body said Wednesday.

“Maryna Fenina, a national member of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), died in shelling in Kharkiv” Tuesday, the OSCE said in a statement.

Kharkiv, the country’s second city, has come under intense shelling by Russian forces, with police and university buildings bombarded and government offices reduced to rubble.

“In Kharkiv and other cities and towns in Ukraine, missiles, shells and rockets are hitting residential buildings and town centers, killing and injuring innocent civilians – women, men and children alike,” the OSCE said.

“We strongly condemn the increased shelling in urban areas,” it added, reiterating its call “on the Russian Federation for an immediate cessation of hostilities”.

A largely Russian-speaking city of 1.4 million near the border, Kharkiv has been a target of Moscow’s forces since the invasion last week.

Intense shelling there on Tuesday drew comparisons to the massacres of civilians in Sarajevo in the 1990s and was called a “war crime” by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.