Vladimir Putin‘s troops have slain nearly 50 Ukrainians while they were shopping at a grocery store in a village in the eastern region of Kharkiv – in one of the deadliest rocket attacks targeting innocent civilians since the war began.
The rocket strike decimated a cafe and shop in the middle of the afternoon in the village of Hroza in the Kupyansk district of Kharkiv, which had been filled with men, women and children at the time.
The local governor said that at least 49 people, including a six-year-old boy, had been killed in today’s horrific attack and at least six more were wounded. Harrowing images from the scene the bodies of the victims lined up on the side of the road.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is meeting Western leaders including UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to plead for more aid, condemned Russia for the slaughter.
‘The brutal Russian crime of hitting an ordinary grocery store with a rocket is a completely deliberate terrorist attack,’ Zelensky said in a statement on social media.
The leader urged Western allies to help strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses, saying that ‘Russian terror must be stopped.’
A woman collapses with grief as she kneels next to the bodies of Ukrainian civilians killed in the Russian strike on the grocery store on Thursday
The rocket attack decimated a cafe and shop in the middle of the afternoon in the village of Hroza in the Kupyansk district of Kharkiv, which had been filled with men, women and children at the time. Pictured: Firefighters at the scene
Nearly 50 people have been killed in a Russian rocket strike as they went food shopping at a store in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv
The rocket attack decimated a cafe and shop in the middle of the afternoon in the village of Hroza in the Kupyansk district of Kharkiv today
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) speaks with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the start of a plenary session of the European Political Community summit today
‘Russia needs this and similar terrorist attacks for only one thing: to make its genocidal aggression the new norm for the whole world,’ Zelensky said.
‘Now we are talking with European leaders, in particular, about strengthening our air defence, strengthening our soldiers, giving our country protection from terror. And we will respond to the terrorists.’
The village of Hroza is around 20 miles west of Kupiansk, a frontline town where Mosco’s forces have been pushing to recapture territory they lost last year to Ukrainian troops. It is estimated to have had a pre-war population of around 500 people.
The barbaric strikes comes as Zelensky met with Sunak today at a summit of the European Political Community, which was formed in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
‘The key for us, especially before winter, is to strengthen air defence, and there is already a basis for new agreements with partners,’ Zelensky said in a statement posted on his Telegram channel.
Last winter, Russia targeted Ukraine’s energy system and other vital infrastructure in a steady barrage of missile and drone attacks, triggering continuous power outages across the country.
Ukraine’s power system has shown a high degree of resilience and flexibility, helping alleviate the damage, but there have been concerns that Russia will again ramp up its strikes on power facilities as winter draws nearer.
Zelensky noted the Granada summit will also focus on ‘joint work for global food security and protection of freedom of navigation’ in the Black Sea, where the Russian military has targeted Ukrainian ports after Moscow’s withdrawal from a U.N.-sponsored grain deal designed to ensure safe grain exports from the invaded country’s ports.
The U.K. Foreign Office cited intelligence suggesting that Russia may lay sea mines in the approach to Ukrainian ports to target civilian shipping and blame it on Ukraine.
‘Russia almost certainly wants to avoid openly sinking civilian ships, instead falsely laying blame on Ukraine for any attacks against civilian vessels in the Black Sea,’ it said, adding that the U.K. was working with Ukraine to help improve the safety of shipping.
Speaking in Granada, Zelensky emphasized the need to preserve the European unity in the face of Russian disinformation and to remain strong amid what he described as a ‘political storm’ in the United States.
Asked if he was worried that support for Ukraine could falter in the U.S. Congress, the Ukrainian president stressed that his visit to Washington last month made him confident of strong backing by both the Biden administration and Congress.
Zelensky called for ‘additional air defence system for Ukraine, additional artillery and shells, additional long-range missiles and drones for our soldiers, as well as additional formats of support and security guarantees for nations threatened by Russia’ to help protect Europe from potential aggression by Moscow.
Earlier Thursday, Russia targeted Ukraine’s southern regions with drones. Ukraine’s air force said that the country’s air defenses intercepted 24 out of 29 Iranian-made drones that Russia launched at the Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kirovohrad regions.
Andriy Raykovych, head of the Kirovohrad regional administration, said that an infrastructure facility in the region was struck and emergency services were deployed to extinguish a fire. He said there were no casualties.
In other Russian attacks on Ukraine in the past day, two civilians were killed in shelling of the southern city of Kherson and another one died after a Russian strike on the city of Krasnohorivka in the eastern Donetsk region. At least eight people were wounded by Russian shelling, according to Ukraine’s presidential office.
A Russian strike on a hospital in the city of Beryslav in the Kherson region ravaged the building and wounded two medical workers, according to the regional administration chief, Oleksandr Prokudin.
Ukraine, in turn, has struck back at Russia with regular drone attacks across the border.
Roman Starovoit, the governor of Russia’s Kursk region that borders Ukraine, said that Ukrainian drones attacked infrastructure facilities in several areas, resulting in power cuts.
Starovoit also said that Ukrainian forces fired artillery at the border town of Rylsk, wounding a local resident and damaging several houses.
This is a breaking news story, more to follow…
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