Scores of individuals lost their lives or sustained injuries following an aerial bomb strike on a large store in the city of Kharkiv on Saturday afternoon, as confirmed by local authorities.
The airstrike resulted in a massive fire and thick plumes of smoke, which were evident in social media videos.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that there may have been over 200 people inside the store at the time of the attack.
Zelenskyy labeled the airstrike as “a display of Russian insanity” and urged Western nations to furnish Ukraine with air defense systems.
“In emphasizing the necessity for Ukraine to have adequate air defense, we are explicitly addressing the prevention of such terrorist strikes,” he shared in a post on X.
“Only individuals with a lack of reason, such as Putin, are capable of causing harm and instilling fear in this manner,” Zelenskyy remarked.
The Kharkiv region is positioned approximately 20 kilometers from the Russian border.
In recent weeks, Moscow’s forces have taken control of villages in the area as part of a broader offensive, leading analysts to believe they may be attempting to come within artillery range of Kharkiv city.
Since the commencement of the offensive on May 10, Ukrainian authorities have evacuated over 11,000 individuals from the region.
Russia’s advance in Kharkiv seems to be a coordinated fresh offensive, encompassing assessments of Ukrainian defenses in the southern Donetsk region, where the Russian Defense Ministry announced that its forces had seized control of the village of Arkhanhelske on Saturday.
Additionally, they have initiated advances in the northern Sumy and Chernihiv regions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin asserts that the Kremlin’s military is striving to establish a “buffer zone” in the Kharkiv region in order to prevent cross-border attacks from Ukraine.
Based on Euronews report.
