A series of strikes in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, in the country’s war-torn northeast, left at least five people dead and 13 injured on Sunday, according to a regional health official.

The deaths were verified by Maksym Khaustov, the chief of the Kharkiv region’s health department, following a series of strikes that AFP correspondents on the ground reported had sparked fires across the city and ripped the roofs off buildings struck by the attacks.

In central Kharkiv, AFP heard two incoming salvos and saw five fires spread across residential neighbourhoods. Fire engines sped through the city centre in all directions, deploying ladders to reach the smouldering apartments on the top story.

In the moments after the strikes, there was a sense of panic in the street, with pedestrians fleeing and cars speeding from the scene.

At one site, AFP saw a blood-stained coat next to a pool of fresh blood on the ground. A local reported hearing between six and eight missiles strike.

The roofs of some homes had been torn off by the force of the blasts, showering debris onto the road below.

Since pulling back from its northern offensive to capture the capital of Kyiv, the Kremlin has scaled up attacks on Ukraine’s eastern flank, including Kharkiv just 21 kilometres (13 miles) from the Russian border.

On Friday, the shelling of residential areas of the city killed 10 people. On Saturday, a strike claimed two more lives.