KHARKIV Ukraine — At least 16 people were killed and scores injured in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv from a spate of Russian missile strikes Saturday
At least 16 people were killed, and scores injured in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv from a spate of Russian missile strikes Saturday while several people were still listed as missing, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on the Telegram messaging app Sunday.
The attack sparked a massive fire at a Kharkiv hardware store when the bombs struck, making it difficult for rescue teams to identify most of the burned bodies. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said Saturday that about 120 people were in the store when the bombs struck.
‘The attack targeted the shopping center, where there were many people — this is clearly terrorism,’ Terekhov said.
So far, only six of the dead have been identified, including a 12-year-old girl who was visiting the city, according to local authorities. Police were asking relatives to provide DNA samples to help identify bodies in the ruined store in the northeastern outskirts of the city.
This image contains sensitive content which some people may find offensive or disturbing. Click to reveal The body of a person killed in a Russian air strike, lies covered on the ground at the site of a household item shopping mall which was hit in the Russian air strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, May 25, 2024. This image contains sensitive content which some people may find offensive or disturbing — Click to reveal The body of a person killed in a Russian air strike, lies covered on the ground at the site of a household item shopping mall which was hit in the Russian air strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, May 25, 2024.
A video posted by police showed staff and shoppers in the store just before the deadly strike followed by a massive explosion and fire.
‘It took 16 hellish hours to tame the flames,’ Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.
In a video showing him standing in front of a charred printing house in Kharkiv that was hit by Russian bombs, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Sunday to attend his peace summit in Switzerland next month as Ukraine struggles to stave off unrelenting attacks by Russia in its 27-month-old invasion.
