The number of victims as a result of airstrikes carried out by the Russian Air Force in Kharkiv on Friday afternoon continues to grow and has already reached 40 people, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

"Forty people have been injured now. They are hospitalized," Terekhov said on the air of the Yedyni Novyny marathon.

He did not rule out that the number of victims may still grow - rescue operations are still underway in one of the hit sites, in a 12-storey apartment building, and the situation there, as Terekhov said, is "very difficult."

Earlier it was reported about four dead and 28 injured.