"It landed near private residential houses in one of the city's districts. Preliminary information indicates no damage or casualties," Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

It was unclear if he was referring to a single missile or to an attack in general. He wrote in an earlier post that Kharkiv was under missile attack and several explosions had been heard.

Oleh Syniehubov, the Kharkiv regional governor, said on Telegram that Russian S-300 missiles had hit Kharkiv city twice, and that strikes were also recorded in nearby Vovchansk, but so far no casualties had been reported.

Kharkiv and Vovchansk lie close to the border near Belgorod in Russia. Russia has promised to retaliate for recent Ukrainian missile attacks on the city.

(Reporting by Oleksandr Kozhukhar in Kyiv and Elaine Monaghan in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler)