KHARKIV, Ukraine:Russian strikes on a crowded DIY hardware store in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Saturday killed at least two people, injured more than 30, and triggered a huge blaze, regional officials said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy issued a fresh, impassioned plea to Ukraine’s Western allies to help boost air defences to keep the country’s cities safe.
Oleh Syniehubov, Kharkiv regional governor, said via the Telegram messaging app that two guided bombs had hit the DIY hypermarket in a residential area of the city. He said the two dead were store employees and 33 people were injured.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said about 120 people had been in the hardware store when the bombs struck.
“The attack targeted the shopping centre, where there were many people – this is clearly terrorism,” Terekhov said.
Andriy Kudinov, director of the suburban shopping centre, told local media the store was full of shoppers buying items for their summer cottages.
Terekhov later reported another strike in the centre of the city, saying two people had been wounded.
Reuters video footage showed huge clouds of dark smoke billowing into the sky from the site with firefighters battling many small blazes. Within 90 minutes, most were brought under control.
Rescuers, medics and journalists rushed away from the building and lay on their stomachs, fearing a second strike – a common feature of Russia’s recent attacks.
Ukraine’s second-largest city just 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the Russian border, Kharkiv has been the target of many weeks of Russian attacks. Russian troops also staged an incursion into northern areas of Kharkiv Region earlier this month.
Witnesses described panicked scenes at the shopping centre.
“I was at my workplace. I heard the first hit and … with my colleague, we fell to the ground. There was the second hit and we were covered with debris. Then we started to crawl to the higher ground,” said Dmytro Syrotenko, 26, who had a large gash on his face.
Syrotenko told Reuters he was taken to safety by a rescue worker who helped him, several colleagues, and shoppers.
Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, denounced the strike as “yet another example of Russian madness. There is no other way to describe it.
“When we tell world leaders that Ukraine needs sufficient air defences, when we say we need real decisive measures to enable us to protect our people, so that Russian terrorists cannot even approach our border, we are talking about not allowing strikes like this to happen,” he said.
Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, but thousands have been killed and injured during its 27-month full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
(Additional reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa, Ron Popeski and Bill Berkrot)
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