Dozens of people were killed in a Russian strike on a grocery store and cafe in Ukraine on Thursday, local authorities said, in an attack which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described as a “demonstrably brutal Russian crime.”
Officials say the deadly shelling took place in the village of Hroza in the eastern Kharkiv region. In a message on his Telegram account, Zelensky shared a picture of a woman kneeling alongside several bodies. He said that 48 had died in the attack, while Ukraine’s prosecutor general said soon after that the toll had reached 49.
“Russian terror must be stopped,” Zelensky’s message read, adding that anyone “who supports Russia until now supports evil.” “Russia needs this and similar terrorist attacks for only one thing: to make its genocidal aggression the new norm for the whole world,” he continued. “And I thank every leader, every nation that supports us in protecting life!”
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Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelensky’s office, said that Russia had “shelled a civilian object” in Hroza, and that a 6-year-old boy was among those killed. “It is also known about 6 wounded - also one child, a girl,” Yermak added. “Debris analysis is ongoing. Russians are terrorists who cynically and deliberately killed civilians.”
The 6-year-old boy’s death was also reported by Oleg Sinegubov, the head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration. He added that a “cafe and a shop” were both hit in the strike after 1 p.m.., and that there were “many civilians” in the area at the time. Sinegubov said the wounded were receiving medical assistance and rescue crews were continuing to pull people from the rubble.
The attack came as Zelensky attended a summit of the European Political Community, a forum which was set up after the full-scale invasion began in 2022. Around 50 European leaders attended the summit in Grenada, Spain, where the Ukrainian leader spoke of the importance of Europe remaining unified against Russian disinformation. Zelensky also said he remained “confident in America” despite “the political storm that is gathering momentum” in the U.S.
In his Telegram post about the strike, Zelesnky said he is speaking to allies about strengthening Ukraine’s air defenses and “giving our country protection from terror.” “And we will answer the terrorists,” Zelensky wrote. “Absolutely fair. And powerfully.”
