Two people have been killed and more than 20 injured after Russia bombed a superstore in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned the attack today – which sent a huge column of black smoke into the sky – as ‘vile’.
Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov said at least two people had died and 24 injured when ‘two Russian guided bombs hit a construction hypermarket’ and ‘a fire broke out over 15,000 square metres’.
Videos posted by witnesses on social media show a huge column of black smoke billowing into the sky from a fire in the store, located in an area of large stores beside a car park.
Around 200 people and 15 staff are believed to have been inside the Epitsentr hypermarket – which sells household and DIY goods – at the time of the attack.
Two people have been killed and more than 20 injured after Russia bombed a superstore in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv
A firefighter tackles the blaze at a superstore in Kharkiv on Saturday
President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned the attack – which sent a huge column of black smoke into the sky – as ‘vile’
The city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest, regularly comes under attack from Russian missiles with strikes on the city killing at least seven people on Thursday.
The latest attack came after Russia launched a ground offensive in the Kharkiv region on May 10.
Ukraine said on Friday that it had managed to halt Moscow’s progress and was counterattacking.
‘As of now, we know that more than 200 people could have been inside the hypermarket,’ Zelensky said on Telegram.
‘Russia struck another brutal blow at our Kharkiv – at a construction hypermarket – on Saturday, right in the middle of the day,’ Zelensky said.
‘Only madmen like Putin are capable of killing and terrorising people in such a vile way,’ he added.
‘There were a lot of workers and shoppers inside. Now the fire is on the whole territory.’
Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said that according to the store’s owner, they had lost contact with 15 store employees and that approximately 200 people were in the building at the time of the strikes.
‘We have a large number of people missing. There are many wounded,’ Terekhov wrote on Telegram.
Firefighters work at a site of a household item shopping mall hit by a Russian air strike
Around 200 people and 15 staff are believed to have been inside the Epitsentr hypermarket – which sells household and DIY goods – at the time of the attack
Videos posted by witnesses on social media show a huge column of black smoke billowing into the sky from a fire in the store
Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said that according to the store’s owner, they had lost contact with 15 store employees
The latest attack came after Russia launched a ground offensive in the Kharkiv region on May 10
Ukraine said on Friday that it had managed to halt Moscow’s progress and was counterattacking
‘Apparently, the attack was on a shopping centre where there were many people – this is pure terrorism.’
On Saturday Russia shelled the village of Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi, a railway hub in the Kharkiv region near the border, wounding five, the regional prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
It said that two vehicles came under fire: a car with two passengers and an ambulance with a driver, a paramedic and a 64-year-old patient.
Russia also carried out air strikes on the Kupiansk district, damaging a factory and residential buildings, the prosecutor’s office said.
In the eastern Donetsk region, shelling on Saturday killed a 40-year-old woman and wounded four, said the head of the regional administration, Vadym Filashkin.
Russian forces also today claimed it had captured another village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
The Russian defence ministry said that troops had ‘taken control of the village of Arkhangelske’, located to the north of the city of Donetsk.
The city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest, regularly comes under attack from Russian missiles with strikes on the city killing at least seven people on Thursday
Russia currently occupies around 18 per cent of Ukraine, including Crimea which it annexed in 2014
The small frontline village is near the town of Ocheretyne, which Russia said it had captured early this month.
Ukraine’s General Staff said on Saturday that Russian forces were “particularly active” near the town of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region.
It said six firefights were ongoing near the villages of Kalynove, Yasnobrodivka and Sokil, south of the village of Arkhangelske.
On Saturday, Ukraine said its forces had repelled two attacks in the Kharkiv region and fighting was continuing near the town of Vovchansk, which Moscow is attempting to seize.
Russia’s defence ministry said its troops had fought off two counter-attacks near the border, one close to Vovchansk, which Moscow is attempting to seize.
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