10/05/2023 10:47 pm (current 10/05/2023 10:50 pm)
A Russian attack on Ukraine left 48 people dead. ©AP
According to authorities, at least 51 people were killed in a Russian attack in the Kharkiv region, in eastern Ukraine. Not far from the city of Kupyansk, a cafe and a grocery store were hit in the town of Hrosa on Thursday, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine said. A six-year-old girl was also among the dead. Seven other people were injured. According to information, the bombing occurred at around 1:15 pm local time.
The Attorney General’s Office also released photos and a video showing piles of rubble and people lying motionless on the ground. Rescue work was underway, military governor Oleh Synehubow wrote on Telegram.
According to media reports, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that many people were there at the time of the attack because they were taking part in a ceremony in memory of a deceased fellow citizen at the cafe. In the small town of about 330 residents, every family was affected by the devastating Russian bombings, he added.
In his evening video address on Thursday, Zelensky described the Russian army as “absolute evil.” “This was a deliberate missile attack,” Zelensky said. “The Russian military could not have ignored where they attacked. This was not a blind attack.”
According to Zelenskyy, just over 300 people recently lived in Hrosa. The worst Russian attack on the Kharkiv region since the start of the war destroyed a sixth of the village. “This is a brutal and genocidal aggression by Russia,” said the Ukrainian head of state.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms”. Attacks “on civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited by international humanitarian law and must stop immediately”, Guterres demanded through his spokesman on Thursday. He expressed his condolences to the families of those killed and injured. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric left no doubt that UN representatives on the ground held Russia responsible for the attack.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell spoke of “another grim milestone”. It is a heinous attack on innocent civilians. Intentional attacks on civilians are war crimes. The Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned the attack and called it a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law”. There should be no impunity, said the ministry via X (Twitter).
The affected region around the city of Kupyansk freed Ukraine from Russian occupation last fall during its offensive in the northeast of the country. At that time, the Ukrainian military also managed to cross the Oskil River and partially penetrate the neighboring Luhansk region. In the meantime, however, the Russian armed forces have regained the initiative in the region. Fierce fighting has been going on for weeks in the east of the Kharkiv region.