A Russian strike on a crowded DIY hardware store in Kharkiv killed 12 people and wounded dozens more, Ukrainian prosecutors reported on Sunday morning. The death toll continues to rise as the country's second-largest city grapples with the aftermath of two attacks from the previous day.
Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov stated on national television that two guided bombs hit the Epicentr DIY hypermarket in a residential area of the city on Saturday afternoon. The strikes caused a massive fire, sending a column of thick, black smoke billowing hundreds of meters into the air.
The local prosecutors' office reported that 43 people were injured, and ten of the twelve deceased had not yet been identified. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov mentioned that about 120 people were in the hardware store when the bombs struck. "The attack targeted the shopping center, where there were many people - this is clearly terrorism," Terekhov said.
Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko posted on the Telegram app that 16 people were still missing after the strike. Over the past week, Kharkiv has seen an increase in attacks after Russian troops crossed the border, opening a new front north of the city. Russia has bombarded Kharkiv, located less than 30 kilometers (20 miles) from its border, throughout the war, having previously reached its outskirts in a failed attempt to capture it in 2022.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Ukraine's Western allies to help boost air defenses to keep the country's cities safe. French President Emmanuel Macron, writing on the social media platform X, condemned the attack on the store as "unacceptable."
A separate missile strike in the early evening hit a residential building in the city center, wounding 25 people by Sunday morning. The missile left a crater several meters deep in the pavement at the foot of the building, which also housed a post office, a beauty salon, and a cafe. Emergency workers evacuated residents from nearby apartment buildings, some of whom had blood on their faces.
In Russia's Belgorod region, just over the border, the regional governor reported that four residents died in Ukrainian attacks on Saturday.
FIRE AT HARDWARE STORE
Andriy Kudinov, director of the suburban shopping center, told local media the hardware store was full of shoppers buying items for their summer cottages. Interior Minister Klymenko said it took 16 hours to fully extinguish the fire at the center, which had raged over an area of 13,000 square meters (15,548 square yards).
Rescuers, medics, and journalists occasionally had to take cover on the ground, fearing another strike, as has occurred during several recent Russian attacks. Dmytro Syrotenko, a 26-year-old employee of the DIY center, described the chaotic scenes.
"I was at my workplace. I heard the first hit and ... with my colleague, we fell to the ground. There was the second hit and we were covered with debris. Then we started to crawl to higher ground," said Syrotenko, who had a large gash on his face. He told Reuters that a rescue worker helped him, several colleagues, and shoppers to safety.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy condemned the strike as "yet another example of Russian madness. There is no other way to describe it." He emphasized the need for sufficient air defenses and decisive measures to protect the Ukrainian people from further attacks.
Writing later on Telegram, Zelenskiy noted that air raid alerts had been in effect in Kharkiv for more than 12 hours. Around 200 emergency workers and 400 policemen remained at the scene dealing with the aftermath of the attacks.
Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, but thousands have been killed and injured during its 27-month invasion of Ukraine.
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