Russia bombed a hardware store in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Saturday afternoon, killing at least six people and injuring at least 40 others. Ukrainian officials said. The attack was the latest in a sustained bombing campaign against the city that has made life increasingly difficult and dangerous for civilians.
Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, said 16 people were still missing, suggesting the toll could rise. He added that new airstrike on Saturday in the center of KharkivUkraine’s second-largest city, injured at least 14 people.
“All day, Kharkiv was the target of Russian terrorist attacks. The air raid in the Kharkiv region has been going on for more than 12 hours,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said. wrote on social networks.
Saturday’s attack, Zelensky said, underscores Ukraine’s recent calls for Western allies to provide air defense systems and other weapons capable of shooting down Russian missiles and aircraft that throw the bombs. “If Ukraine had sufficient air defense systems and modern combat aircraft, Russian strikes like this would have been impossible,” he said.
Videos And Pictures posted online by Ukrainian officials showed large plumes of black smoke billowing from the supermarket, as firefighters rushed to put out a blaze that authorities said spanned 10,000 square meters.
Kharkiv, currently home to 1.3 million people and just 40 kilometers from the Russian border, was increasingly targeted by Russian airstrikes in recent monthswhat Ukrainian officials and military experts say is a tactic intended to intimidate residents and sow panic.
Saturday’s attack came just two days after missiles struck a major book printing factory in the city, killing seven people and injuring 21. Mr. Zelensky said 50,000 books were destroyed in a fire set by the attack.
The assault on the print shop shocked the country, with videos shared online showing charred bodies and piles of books reduced to ashes. Kharkiv is a publishing hub in Ukraine, and many citizens saw the airstrikes as further evidence of the Kremlin efforts to eradicate Ukrainian culture.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Saturday’s attack. write onthe social media platform formerly known as Twitter, said the strikes were “unacceptable.”
Mr Syniehubov said the Epicent chain hardware store was hit by two powerful aerial bombs in broad daylight. These weapons, known as glide bombs, can launch hundreds of pounds of explosives in a single explosion and destroy multi-story buildings.
Russia mainly used these bombs to destroy Ukrainian positions on the front line and to facilitate the advance of its troops – a tactic that proved particularly effective during the capture of the eastern town of Avdiivka in February.
But since March, Moscow has also used bombs to target Kharkiv. They are difficult to bring down with air defense systems, leaving people virtually helpless.
According to Ukrainian officials, the only solution would be to shoot down the planes launching the missile. missiles. But the bombs are designed to travel several dozen kilometers, allowing Russian warplanes to launch them from inside Russia, far from Ukrainian anti-aircraft systems. And Western allies have barred Ukraine from firing Western-supplied long-range missiles at Russia.
“The bombing of Kharkiv, all the deaths of people, children, this is their enormous advantage. The daily use of bombs constitutes their enormous advantage,” Zelensky said in a statement. interview with the New York Times last week.
The Ukrainian leader urged his Western allies to lift their ban on firing missiles into Russian territory and to increase the number of F-16 planes, capable of shooting down distant targets, sent to kyiv.
“Are there any suitable weapons in the world to counter this? Yes. Are there suitable weapons, better than those available to Russia? Yes. Does Ukraine have these two elements: sufficient quantity and authorization? No,” Mr. Zelensky said in the interview.
