A five-month-old baby and his father have died in shelling of Kharkiv, believed to be by Russian forces, on Thursday 26 May.

Exclusive video from the scene showed badly damaged buildings from the shelling -- the first time the city has been hit with major strikes in two weeks.

The child’s mother is in a serious condition and eight people were killed, according to the head of the Ukrainian National Police, Igor Klimenko, on Facebook.

"Today the enemy shot Kharkiv. Previously, they hit from howitzers. When the shelling began, a young family was walking on the street: a wife and a husband who had a 5-month-old baby in his arms. The man died immediately," he wrote.

Seventeen people were injured, among them a nine-year-old child, he added.

Local police said they did not find the child's body at first as the blast had thrown it onto the roof of a building entrance.

Speaking in the video, local resident Tatyanna said: "After the first arrival (explosion), we immediately went to the shelter and then there was a second explosion. There was fire and thick smoke after the explosion and we could not understand what was happening, then the military arrived and saved me and my mother."

Regional governor Oleh Synehubov said Russian forces hit Shevchenkovsky and Kyiv districts of Kharkiv with artillery and rockets.

The city was heavily attacked in the early days of the war but Russian forces were pushed out of the city and life was starting to return to normal.

Now there are fears it could be targeted again as Russian forces accelerate offensives in other parts of eastern Ukraine.

7 people were killed, 17 injured: Sinegubov on the consequences of the shelling of Kharkov on May 26

The occupiers fired at the Shevchenkovsky and Kyiv districts of Kharkov with artillery and multiple launch rocket systems;

As a result of shelling, 17 people were injured, including a 9-year-old child. 7 people died.