51 killed in strike on Ukrainian cafe in one of Russia’s deadliest attacks in months
KYIV, Ukraine — A Russian rocket struck a village cafe and store in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least 51 civilians in one of the deadliest attacks in the war in months, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top officials in Kyiv.
The attack came as Zelensky attended a summit of about 50 European leaders in Spain to drum up support from Ukraine’s allies.
Zelensky denounced the attack on the store and cafe in the village of Hroza as a “demonstrably brutal Russian crime†and “a completely deliberate act of terrorism.â€
Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak and Kharkiv regional Gov. Oleh Sinegubov said a 6-year-old boy was among the dead, adding that seven people were wounded. Hroza, which had a population of about 500 before the war, is in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.
About 60 people were in the cafe, attending a wake after a funeral, said Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, who provided the death toll.
According to preliminary information from Kyiv, the village was struck by an Iskander missile. Emergency crews searched the smoldering rubble of damaged buildings. Ukrainian prosecutors released photos showing bloodied bodies.
Rescuers climbed over the wreckage as they searched for survivors. Body parts were strewn across a nearby children’s playground that was severely damaged by the strike. Cellphones were collected and put in a courtyard nearby, waiting to be claimed. Occasionally, one of them rang, lighting up a shattered screen.
Russian attacks plunged Ukrainian cities into darkness last winter. War-weary citizens brace for more blackouts amid a rush to protect Ukraine’s electrical grid.
Hroza and other parts of the Kharkiv region were seized by Russia early in the war and recaptured by Ukraine in September 2022.
The village is about 20 miles west of Kupiansk, a key area of the Russian military effort. Zelensky had visited the area Tuesday to meet with troops and inspect equipment supplied by the West.
On Thursday, Zelensky was at a summit of the European Political Community in Granada, Spain, where he asked for more Western support, saying that “Russian terror must be stopped.â€
“Russia needs this and similar terrorist attacks for only one thing: to make its genocidal aggression the new norm for the whole world,†he said in a statement posted on his Telegram app channel. “Now we are talking with European leaders, in particular, about strengthening our air defense, strengthening our soldiers, giving our country protection from terror. And we will respond to the terrorists.
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“The key for us, especially before winter, is to strengthen air defense, and there is already a basis for new agreements with partners,†he said.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the strike was “horrifying,†and said it demonstrated why the United States is doing everything it can “to help the brave people of Ukraine to fight for their freedom, to fight for their democracy.â€
During winter, Russia targeted Ukraine’s energy system and other vital infrastructure in a steady barrage of missile and drone attacks, triggering continual power outages across the country. Ukraine’s power system has shown a high degree of resilience and flexibility, helping alleviate the damage, but there have been concerns that Russia will again ramp up its strikes on power facilities as another winter draws nearer.
Zelensky noted that the Granada summit would also focus on “joint work for global food security and protection of freedom of navigation†in the Black Sea, where the Russian military has targeted Ukrainian ports after Moscow’s withdrawal from a United Nations-sponsored grain deal designed to ensure safe grain exports from the invaded country’s ports.
Britain’s Foreign Office cited intelligence suggesting that Russia might lay sea mines in the approach to Ukrainian ports to target civilian shipping and blame it on Ukraine. “Russia almost certainly wants to avoid openly sinking civilian ships, instead falsely laying blame on Ukraine for any attacks against civilian vessels in the Black Sea,†it said, adding that London was working with Kyiv to help improve the safety of shipping.
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Speaking in Granada, Zelensky emphasized the need to preserve European unity in the face of Russian disinformation and to remain strong amid what he described as a “political storm†in the United States.
Asked whether he was worried that support for Ukraine could falter in the U.S. Congress, the Ukrainian president stressed that his visit to Washington last month made him confident of strong backing by both the Biden administration and Congress.
Zelensky called for “additional air-defense system for Ukraine, additional artillery and shells, additional long-range missiles and drones for our soldiers, as well as additional formats of support and security guarantees for nations threatened by Russia†to help protect Europe from potential aggression by Moscow.
Earlier Thursday, Russia targeted Ukraine’s southern regions with drones. Ukraine’s air force said that the country’s air defenses intercepted 24 out of 29 Iranian-made drones that Russia launched at the southern regions of Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kirovohrad.
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Andriy Raykovych, the head of the Kirovohrad regional administration, said that an infrastructure facility in the region was struck and emergency services were deployed to put out a fire. He said there were no casualties.
In other Russian attacks on Ukraine in the last day, two civilians were killed in the shelling of Kherson, and another one died after a Russian strike on Krasnohorivka, a city in the eastern region of Donetsk. At least eight people were wounded by the Russian shelling, according to Ukraine’s presidential office.
A Russian strike on a hospital in the city of Beryslav in the Kherson region ravaged the building and injured two medical workers, according to the regional administration chief, Oleksandr Prokudin.
For its part, Ukraine has struck back at Russia with regular drone attacks across the border.
In Russia’s Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, Gov. Roman Starovoit said that Ukrainian drones attacked infrastructure facilities in several areas, resulting in power cuts. He also said that Ukrainian forces fired artillery at the border town of Rylsk, wounding a resident and damaging several houses.
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