KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — At least 51 civilians were killed Thursday in a Russian rocket strike on a village store in eastern Ukraine, one of the deadliest attacks in recent months that came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attended a summit of around 50 European leaders in Spain to drum up support from the country’s allies.
Zelensky denounced the attack on the store and cafe in the village of Hroza as a “demonstrably brutal Russian crime” and “a completely deliberate act of terrorism.”
He urged Western allies to help strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses, saying that “Russian terror must be stopped.”
“Russia needs this and similar terrorist attacks for only one thing: to make its genocidal aggression the new norm for the whole world,” he said. “Now we are talking with European leaders, in particular, about strengthening our air defense, strengthening our soldiers, giving our country protection from terror. And we will respond to the terrorists.”
Presidential chief of staff Andrii Yermak and Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said a 6-year-old boy was among the dead, adding that six other people were wounded.
About 60 people were in the cafe, attending a wake after a funeral, said Internal Affairs Minister Ihor Klymenko, who provided the death toll. According to preliminary information from Kyiv, the village was struck by an Iskander missile. Emergency crews searched the smoldering rubble of damaged buildings. Ukrainian prosecutors released photos showing bloodied bodies.
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, a woman reacts near the bodies of victims of the deadly Russian rocket attack that killed more than 40 people in the village of Hroza near Kharkiv, Ukraine, October 5, 2023. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
Hroza and other parts of the eastern Kharkiv region were seized by Russia early in the war and recaptured by Ukraine in September 2022.
The attack came as Zelensky was in Granada in southern Spain to attend a summit of the European Political Community, which was formed in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“The key for us, especially before winter, is to strengthen air defense, and there is already a basis for new agreements with partners,” he said in a statement posted on his Telegram channel.
Last winter, Russia targeted Ukraine’s energy system and other vital infrastructure in a steady barrage of missile and drone attacks, triggering continuous power outages across the country. Ukraine’s power system has shown a high degree of resilience and flexibility, helping alleviate the damage, but there have been concerns that Russia will again ramp up its strikes on power facilities as winter draws nearer.
Zelensky noted the Granada summit will also focus on “joint work for global food security and protection of freedom of navigation” in the Black Sea, where the Russian military has targeted Ukrainian ports after Moscow’s withdrawal from a UN-sponsored grain deal designed to ensure safe grain exports from the invaded country’s ports.
The UK Foreign Office cited intelligence suggesting that Russia may lay sea mines in the approach to Ukrainian ports to target civilian shipping and blame it on Ukraine.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives at the Europe Summit in Granada, Spain, October 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
“Russia almost certainly wants to avoid openly sinking civilian ships, instead falsely laying blame on Ukraine for any attacks against civilian vessels in the Black Sea,” it said, adding that the UK was working with Ukraine to help improve the safety of shipping.
Speaking in Granada, Zelensky emphasized the need to preserve European unity in the face of Russian disinformation and to remain strong amid what he described as a “political storm” in the United States.
Asked if he was worried that support for Ukraine could falter in the US Congress, the Ukrainian president stressed that his visit to Washington last month made him confident of strong backing by both the Biden administration and Congress.
Zelensky called for an “additional air defense system for Ukraine, additional artillery and shells, additional long-range missiles and drones for our soldiers, as well as additional formats of support and security guarantees for nations threatened by Russia” to help protect Europe from potential aggression by Moscow.
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, emergency workers search the victims of a Russian rocket attack that killed at least 47 people in the village of Hroza near Kharkiv, Ukraine, October 5, 2023. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
Earlier Thursday, Russia targeted Ukraine’s southern regions with drones. Ukraine’s air force said that the country’s air defenses intercepted 24 out of 29 Iranian-made drones that Russia launched at the Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kirovohrad regions.
Andriy Raykovych, head of the Kirovohrad regional administration, said that an infrastructure facility in the region was struck and emergency services were deployed to extinguish a fire. He said there were no casualties.
