Girl, 14, killed by Russian bombardment that hit playground in Kharkiv

One of the bombs hit an apartment block. Credit: AP

A Russian attack on the beleaguered city of Kharkiv has killed six people, including a 14-year-old girl in a playground.

It comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the head of the country's airforce after a Western-supplied F-16 crashed earlier this week.

The strike on Kharkiv left 47 others wounded after powerful glide bombs were launched from a Russian plane.

The bombs struck five locations across the city, which had a prewar population of around 1.4 million people, the governor said.

One of the bombs hit a 12-story apartment block, setting the building ablaze and trapping at least one person on an upper floor.

The strike hit a square in Kharkiv. Credit: AP

Emergency crews searching for survivors feared the building could collapse.

Zelenskyy pointed to the Kharkiv strikes as further evidence that Western partners should scrap restrictions on what the Ukrainian military can target with donated weapons.

The Kharkiv strike "wouldn’t have happened if our defence forces had the capability to destroy Russian military aviation at its bases. We need strong decisions from our partners to stop this terror," Zelenskyy said.

F-16s are one of the tools that Ukraine could use to disable Russian assets, but the West has been reluctant to grant permission to attack the interior of Russia with their weapons - although they have relaxed their attitude in recent weeks.

Earlier this week a F-16 crashed during a Russian bombardment, killing its pilot. On Friday Zelenskyy sacked the head of the airforce Mykola Oleshchuk over the incident.

Oleshchuk had been involved in a public spat with a top Ukrainian parliamentarian who claimed the F-16 was downed by a US-supplied Patriot air defence system.

The lawmaker, Mariana Bezuhla, cited unnamed sources for her claim and demanded punishment for those responsible for the error.

Oleshchuk accused Bezuhla of defaming the air force and discrediting US arms manufacturers. The air force did not directly deny that the F-16 was hit by a Patriot missile.

Before he was sacked Oleshchuk said on Telegram that "a detailed analysis" was already being conducted into why the F-16 jet went down Monday, when Russia launched a major missile and drone barrage at Ukraine.

The crash was the first reported loss of an F-16 in Ukraine, where the warplanes arrived at the end of last month. At least six are believed to have been delivered by European countries.

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