Video footage showed a huge plume of black smoke rising into the sky from the scene, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack as a “brutal attack.”
Saturday 25 May 2024 20:21, UK
At least four people have been killed when Russian forces attacked a crowded DIY supplies store in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, local authorities said.
Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Shniekhbov said on state television that two guided bombs had hit a hypermarket, injuring dozens of people and sparking large fires which firefighters struggled to put out.
At least two of the dead were store employees, 40 were injured and 16 are still missing.
Kharkov Mayor Igor Terekhov said about 120 people were inside the building when the bomb went off.
“The attack was aimed at a shopping centre where many people gather and it was clearly a terrorist attack,” he said.
Andriy Khudinov, director of a suburban shopping centre, told local media that hardware stores were packed with shoppers buying items for their summer homes.
Video footage showed a huge plume of black smoke rising into the sky from the blaze and fire engines and rescue teams heading to the scene, and witnesses described scenes of panic inside the shopping centre.
“I was at work,” said Dmytro Syrotenko, who suffered large cuts on his face.
“We heard the first explosion and my colleague and I fell to the ground. We heard a second explosion and we were covered in rubble. We then started crawling towards higher ground.”
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky He condemned the attack as a “brutal attack” and renewed his call for strengthening air defences to protect the city of some 1.3 million people.
“This is a task that must be accomplished and can only be accomplished in cooperation with the world,” he said.
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In another attack, a missile hit a house in central Kharkiv, wounding 18 people, Sinievbov said.
The missile left a crater several metres deep in the pavement at the base of the building where the pillar was also located.
Offices, beauty salons, cafes.
Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, located about 18 miles (30 kilometers) from the Russian border, has been the target of Russian attacks for weeks.
In a video address on Friday night, Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had secured “combat control” of the area where Russian forces entered the northeastern Kharkiv region earlier this month.
But his comments appear to contradict those of Russian officials.
Russian state parliament member Viktor Vodratsky said Russian forces now control more than half of the city of Vovchansk, three miles inside the border, according to Russia's state news agency TASS.
