Ukrainian rescuers work amongst the rubble of a destroyed shop and café after a Russian strike in the northeastern village of Groza on Oct. 5.ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP/Getty Images
A Russian missile attack on a café and grocery store in a village near the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv has killed more than 50 civilians, in one of the deadliest assaults outside of combat in the country since Russia invaded in February, 2022.
The strike tore through the small village of Hroza, in Kupiansk district, on Thursday afternoon, while residents were gathering at the café after a service in memory of a fallen soldier. Some of those killed were in the grocery store next door, according to Ukrainian officials. Regional police put the death toll at 51.
As the attack was happening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was attending a summit of European leaders in Spain, where he was shoring up support for his country’s fight against Russia.
Mr. Zelensky condemned the attack on the village, which is roughly 30 kilometres from the front line in Kharkiv, as “a demonstrably brutal Russian crime.”
“Russian troops could not have been unaware of where they were hitting,” he said in a video address Thursday night. “This was no blind strike.” He said a six-year-old boy was among the dead.
Photos on social media showed bodies on the ground and rescue workers sorting through debris. Dmytro Chubenko, a spokesperson for the Kharkiv regional prosecutor’s office, told The Globe and Mail the café was reduced to rubble, and that the site is being examined.
Mr. Chubenko said that before Russia’s full-scale invasion about 500 people lived in Hroza, but that many have since fled. He called the attack a war crime, because, he said, it targeted civilians.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov told reporters that the missile strike was “a heinous crime intended to scare Ukrainians,” and said there were no military targets.
“The terrorists deliberately carried out the attack during lunchtime to ensure a maximum number of casualties,” he added.
Hroza was among parts of Kharkiv that were occupied by Russia early in the war. The village was recaptured by Ukraine in September, 2022. On Tuesday, Mr. Zelensky was in the area to visit troops and inspect equipment supplied by Western countries.
At Thursday’s European Political Community summit, Mr. Zelensky warned European leaders that Russia could rebuild its military capabilities and attack other countries within five years if the continent wavers in its support for Kyiv.
“Until there is a fully effective air defence system, children cannot attend school,” he told the gathering.
The Ukrainian President said that by providing additional military equipment to Ukraine, European countries could help ensure that a “drone, tank, or any other Russian weapon will not strike anyone else in Europe.”
He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin must not be allowed “to destabilize any other parts of the world and our partners in order to ruin Europe’s power.”
“The presence of Russia, its military or proxies in the territory of any other country is a threat to all of us,” he added. “We must work together to push Russia out of the territory of other countries.”
Mr. Zelensky has said he remains confident his Western allies will continue to send military aid, despite growing political divisions in Europe and the United States over support for the Ukrainian war effort.
Earlier this week, U.S. President Joe Biden sought to convey that his administration is committed to assisting Ukraine, despite resistance among some Republicans in Congress.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the attack on Hroza “horrifying” during a daily press briefing on Thursday, and reiterated Mr. Biden’s call for Congress to approve more aid to Ukraine.
Yousuf Syed Khan is a senior lawyer with Global Rights Compliance who is part of an international team assisting the Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General with its investigations of war crimes. He described the attack as “senseless,” adding that it demonstrates a pattern of Russian forces targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.
“Russia continues to use starvation as a method of warfare across Ukraine. We have documented several similar attacks following the same pattern, where packed community venues offering food are deliberately targeted during peak visiting hours, either to deprive residents of their sustenance value, or simply to sow and spread terror,” he said.
Moscow did not immediately comment on the attack. It has consistently denied targeting civilians, despite evidence that Russian forces have often killed and injured civilians since the war in Ukraine began almost 20 months ago.
Earlier on Thursday, Russia also targeted Ukraine’s Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kirovohrad regions with Iranian-made drones. Ukraine’s air force said air defences had intercepted 24 out of 29 of them.
With reports from Reuters and the Associated Press