KHARKIV – Russia bombed a hardware store in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Saturday, killing two people and wounding more than 30, Ukrainian authorities said. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the attack as “despicable.”
Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleg Sinegbov said two Russian guided bombs hit the store, killing at least two people.
“Two people were killed. They were men who worked in a hypermarket,” Sinegubov said in a video posted on Telegram.
“The number of injured people has risen to 35,” Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said in a Telegram post.
An AFP journalist saw firefighters spraying water on blazes sparked by the bomb attack as thick black smoke rose from the burnt-out Epitsentr DIY supermarket on the city's northeastern outskirts.
The Epitsentr chain sells household goods and DIY supplies.
“At the moment we know that there may have been more than 200 people inside the hypermarket,” Zelenskiy said in a Telegram message, condemning the daytime attack as clearly targeting civilians.
The regional governor said he had “not had any contact with any of the staff” and that “according to our information, visitors may still be in the building.”
Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, lies just a few dozen kilometers from the border and is regularly hit by Russian missile attacks, including one on Thursday that killed seven people.
– Fresh Strike –
Another attack struck central Kharkiv later on Saturday, wounding eight people, Terekhov said, without giving further details.
President Zelensky visited Kharkiv on Friday and met with officials to discuss the defense of the surrounding region.
He called on world leaders on Saturday to provide Ukraine with “adequate air defense” to “prevent such terrorist attacks.”
“Russia struck another brutal blow at our Kharkiv construction hypermarket in broad daylight on Saturday,” Zelenskyy said.
“Only a madman like Putin could murder and terrorize people in such a despicable way,” he added, referring to the Russian president, who ordered the deployment of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
The latest attack came after Russia launched a ground offensive in the Kharkiv region on May 10. Ukraine said on Friday it had successfully thwarted Moscow's advance and was counterattacking.
Ukrainian rescue services posted pictures of firefighters spraying water inside the burning Epitaph Center store, whose roof was torn off and rubble was scattered everywhere.
The blaze spread to an area of ​​10,000 square metres (108,000 square feet) but firefighters managed to bring it under control.
“There were many workers and shoppers inside,” Zelensky said.
– “A brutal blow” –
Kharkiv Mayor Terekhov said the store owner said 15 employees had not been contacted and that around 200 people had been in the building at the time of the attack.
He described the attack as “pure terrorism.”
Russia and Ukraine on Saturday blamed each other's militaries for attacks in their border areas.
Russia said Ukrainian artillery fire on a small town in the Belgorod border region killed two people and wounded 10.
Ukrainian prosecutors said Russia shelled the village of Kupyansk-Buzlovy, a railway hub in the Kharkiv region near the border, wounding five people.
Police said two vehicles were struck by gunfire: one a car with two passengers and the other an ambulance carrying a driver, a paramedic and a 64-year-old patient.
According to prosecutors, Russia also carried out airstrikes in the Kupyansk region, damaging factories and homes.
Shelling on Saturday in the eastern Donetsk region killed a 40-year-old woman and wounded four others, said Vadim Filashkin, head of the region's administration.