A Russian missile strike killed a 10-year-old boy and his grandmother on Friday in the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, officials said, a day after a strike in the same region killed at least 52 civilians in one of the deadliest attacks in the war in months.Reporters saw emergency crews pulling the body of the boy – who was wearing pyjamas with a Spiderman design – from the rubble of a building after the early morning attack, which injured 28 more people, including an 11-month-old baby, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said.
The boy’s father, Oleh Bychko, said he had managed to pull his younger son and wife out of the rubble after the strike. Bychko, his face scratched and his clothes covered in blood, stood shocked and lost for words after the death of his 10-year-old son, Tymofiy.A day earlier, a Russian rocket blast turned a village cafe and store in Hroza, a village in eastern Ukraine to rubble, killing at least 51 civilians, according to Ukrainian officials.
About 60 people, including children, were attending a wake at the cafe when the missile hit, the officials said.Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky, attending a summit of about 50 European leaders in Spain to rally support from Ukraine’s allies, called the strike as a “demonstrably brutal Russian crime” and “a completely deliberate act of terrorism”.
“Russian missile struck an ordinary grocery store in the Kupiansk district of the Kharkiv region. This was a fully deliberate, demonstrative, and brutal terrorist attack. As of now, more than 51 people have been reported dead. My condolences to all those who have lost their loved ones!
Assistance is being provided to the wounded. Russian terror must be stopped. All those who help Russia circumvent sanctions are criminals. Those who continue to support Russia are all supporting evil. Russia needs this and similar terrorist attacks for one reason only: to make its genocidal aggression the new normal for the entire world. And I thank every leader and every nation that supports us in the defense of life! We are now focused with European leaders, in particular, on how to strengthen our air defense, reinforce our troops, and protect our country from terror. Terrorists will face retaliation. One that is both just and powerful.”