Max Hunder and Vitaly Nidi
KHARKIV, Ukraine (Reuters) – Russian forces attacked a crowded Kharkiv hardware store, killing at least 14 people and wounding dozens, Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday, raising the death toll after two other attacks in the country's second-largest city in a day.
Two guided bombs hit the Epicentre DIY hypermarket in a residential area of ​​the city on Saturday afternoon, regional governor Oleh Shnievbov said on state television.
The explosion sparked a massive fire and sent a column of thick, black smoke rising several hundred metres into the air.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and local prosecutors said 14 people were killed and 44 were wounded. Prosecutors said 11 of the dead had been identified and seven were still missing.
In a social media post late in the afternoon, Sinievbov said the death toll was 16.
Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said about 120 people were in the hardware store when the bomb went off.
Attacks on the city have increased in the last week after Russian troops advanced across the border, opening a new front to the north of the city.
Russia has shelled Kharkiv, located less than 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, throughout the war and reached the outskirts in an unsuccessful attempt to seize the city in 2022.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Ukraine's Western allies to help bolster air defences to secure Ukraine's cities, and French President Emmanuel Macron, writing on social media platform X, condemned the attacks on stores as “unacceptable”.
A separate missile attack earlier in the evening hit a home in the center of the city of 1.3 million people, leaving the number of people wounded in that attack at 25 by Sunday morning.
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.
Across the border, in Russia's Belgorod region, the regional governor said four residents were killed in a Ukrainian military attack on Saturday.
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.
Interior Minister Klimenko said the fire spread to an area of ​​13,000 square metres (15,548 square yards) and took 16 hours to put out.
Rescue workers, medical personnel and journalists had to rush from the scenes of both attacks on the city and take refuge above ground, fearing new attacks, as has happened several times during recent Russian attacks.
Dmytro Syrotenko, 26, an employee at the DIY centre, described feeling panicked.
“I was at work and we heard the first explosion and fell to the ground with my colleagues. Then there was a second explosion and we were covered in rubble. Then we started crawling to higher ground,” said Syrotenko, 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 a video address on Sunday night, President Zelenskiy said the attack and massacre should invite widespread condemnation and lead to “fully just consequences,” and reiterated the need for Ukraine to ensure adequate air defences.
“This is so that we have at least an adequate air defense system to defend Ukraine and our cities,” he said, “and so that our partners are determined to take preventive defensive action against Russian terrorists.”
He said Ukraine would continue to press partners to speed up deliveries of F-16 fighter jets “to strengthen defense against terrorist attacks on cities and Russian military pressure on the front lines.”
Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians but thousands have been killed and wounded in its 27-month invasion of Ukraine.