Russian strike kills 18 at Kharkiv megastore, Ukraine’s deadliest attack in weeks

CNN
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Eighteen people, including a 12-year-old girl, were among those killed in a Russian strike that hit a department store in Kharkiv on Saturday, regional officials said, making it the deadliest attack that the Ukraine has experienced for several weeks.

Police said Sunday that a 12-year-old girl was among those killed in the attack.

Five people are still missing, Oleh Syniehubov, head of the military administration of the Kharkiv region, said Monday. He said 48 people were injured in the strike which hit the megastore building while nearly 200 people were inside.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city near the border with Russia, has been the scene of a wave of Russian attacks in recent weeks.

Security camera footage from the moment of the attack shows the building shaking upon impact, with the entire site immediately engulfed in thick smoke and flames.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the hours following the strike had been “hellish” and thanked everyone who helped put out the fires. Photographs taken inside the store after the attack show the building in complete ruin, with stock burned and walls collapsed.

The Ukrainian Catholic University identified the slain 12-year-old girl as Maria Myronenko, saying in a Facebook post that she died in the strike alongside her mother, Iryna, who was a student at the institute. His father was also injured and was being treated at the hospital, according to the release.

Serhii Bolvinov, head of the Kharkiv regional police investigation department, said the family was shopping when two bombs struck. Maria’s older sister, Nadiya, 20, was not with them at the time and only learned of the death after finding her father in hospital.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the strike as a “brutal attack,” saying “Russia is led by men who want to make this a norm – burning lives, destroying towns and villages, dividing people and erasing national borders by war.

Zelensky, who was in Spain for an official visit on Monday, urged Ukraine’s allies to provide it with more air defense.

During his meeting with Zelensky in Madrid, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday announced a new $1.08 billion arms deal for Ukraine, which “aims to strengthen air defense systems” and protect Ukrainian citizens and infrastructure from Russian attacks.

“We are sending Patriot missiles,” Sanchez said of the American-built air defense system. “Zelensky asks the platforms to launch them, and asks how many we can donate. We are sending a new batch of Leopard tanks and, above all, ammunition that the (Ukrainian) troops need.”

Zelensky was scheduled to visit Spain earlier this month, but his trip was postponed due to the Russian offensive around Kharkiv and other parts of Ukraine. This offensive appears to be continuing, with Kharkiv suffering intense attacks on a daily basis.

The United States announced Friday that it was sending $275 million in military assistance to Ukraine as part of “efforts to help Ukraine repel Russia’s assault near Kharkiv,” according to the Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

America’s top diplomat said the new tranche of aid “contains capabilities that Ukrainian troops urgently need” as they struggle to halt Russia’s advance toward the key northeastern city.