By Max Hunder and Vitaly Khinidy
KHARKIV, Ukraine (Reuters) – Russian forces attacked a busy DIY shop and residential area in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Saturday, killing at least six people and wounding dozens, local authorities said.
Two guided bombs hit a DIY hypermarket in a residential area of the city, killing six people, the regional governor said. Author: Sinievbov He spoke on national television.
At least two of the dead were store employees. Forty people were injured, at least three seriously. Snyder said 16 people were still missing.
Mayor of Kharkiv Igor Terekhov About 120 people were inside the hardware store when the bomb went off, police said.
“The attack was aimed at a shopping centre where many people were present and is clearly a terrorist attack,” Terekhov said.
Attacks on the city have increased in the last week after Russian troops invaded across the border, opening a new front to the north of the city.
Russia has shelled Kharkiv, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, throughout the war and reached the outskirts in an unsuccessful attempt to seize the city in 2022.
Across the border, in Russia's Belgorod region, the regional governor said four residents were killed in a Ukrainian military attack on Saturday.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Ukraine's Western allies to help bolster air defenses to secure Ukraine's cities, and French President Emmanuel Macron, writing on social media platform X, condemned the attacks on stores as “unacceptable.”
Snyevbov said another missile attack earlier in the evening hit a home in the center of the city of 1.3 million people, wounding 18 people.
The missile left a crater several metres deep in the sidewalk at the base of the building, which also housed a post office, a hairdresser and a cafe.
Rescue workers evacuated residents of nearby apartments, some of whom had blood on their faces.
Firefighters fighting a fire
Andriy Khudinov, director of a suburban shopping centre, told local media that hardware stores were packed with shoppers buying items for their summer homes.
A huge plume of black smoke billowed into the air above the shopping center as firefighters battled numerous small fires, most of which were under control within 90 minutes.
Rescue workers, medical personnel and journalists rushed to flee the scenes of both attacks, taking to their stomachs, fearing a second attack like those seen in recent Russian strikes.
Witnesses described scenes of panic at the shopping centre.
“I was at work when I heard the first explosion and my colleague and I fell to the ground. Then there was a second explosion and we were covered in rubble. Then we crawled to higher ground,” said Dmytro Syrotenko, 26, who suffered large cuts on his face.
Syrotenko told Reuters he and several colleagues were carried to safety by rescue workers who also helped other shoppers.
In an evening video address, President Zelensky condemned the attack as “another example of Russian madness – there's no other way to describe it.”
“When we tell world leaders that Ukraine needs adequate air defenses, and we say we need to take real, decisive steps to protect our people so that Russian terrorists can't even get close to our borders, we're saying we will not tolerate attacks like this,” he said.
Zelensky later wrote in a Telegram post, noting that an air raid warning had been in effect in Kharkiv for more than 12 hours and that 200 emergency personnel and 400 police officers remained on the scene responding to the aftermath of the attack.
Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians but thousands have been killed and wounded in its 27-month invasion of Ukraine.
(Additional reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by Ron Popeski, Bill Berkrot, David Gregorio and Chris Rees)