Russian strike hits village in Kharkiv on Thursday, killing over 50 people
A village where a Russian missile killed at least least 52 civilians in one of the deadliest attacks in the war had no military targets, according to Ukraine’s defence minister.
President Volodymyr Zelensky branded the strike on a funeral service “inhuman” and “a completely deliberate act of terrorism”, claiming the troops would have known what they were doing. “This was no blind strike,” he said.
About 60 people, including children, were at a wake in Hroza, in eastern Ukraine, when the missile hit.
Defence minister Rustem Umerov said: “The terrorists deliberately carried out the attack during lunchtime, to ensure a maximum number of casualties.”
“There were no military targets. This is a heinous crime intended to scare Ukrainians.”
Sergey Bolvinov, Kharkiv police investigator, told CNN: “Not a single military object, not a single military vehicle. All the dead and wounded people are civilians.”
Just 24 hours later, another Russian missile killed a 10-year-old boy and his grandmother in the city of Kharkiv, not far away.
The attack also injured 28 people, including an 11-month-old baby, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said.
