Russian officials detonated a bomb at a hardware store in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Saturday afternoon, killing at least 11 people and wounding dozens more, Ukrainian officials said. The attack is the latest in an ongoing bombing campaign against the city that has made life increasingly difficult and dangerous for civilians.
Ole Sinyehubov, head of the Kharkiv region’s military administration, added that at least 14 people were wounded in another airstrike on Saturday in the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
“Kharkiv was hit by Russian terrorist attacks all day long. The airstrikes in the Kharkiv region continued for more than 12 hours,” President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media.
Zelenskyy added that the attack highlighted Ukraine’s recent calls for Western allies to provide it with air defense systems and other weapons capable of shooting down planes that launch Russian missiles and bombs. “If Ukraine had sufficient air defense systems and modern fighter jets, this Russian attack would not have been possible,” he said.
Videos and photos posted online by Ukrainian officials showed huge plumes of black smoke rising from the supermarket as firefighters rushed to extinguish the fire, which had expanded to more than 10,000 square metres.
Kharkiv, now home to 1.3 million people and located just 25 miles from the Russian border, has increasingly been the target of Russian airstrikes in recent months. Ukrainian officials and military experts say it is a tactic aimed at intimidating the population and creating fear.
Saturday’s attack came just two days after a missile struck a large book printing plant in the city, killing seven people and wounding 21 others. Prime Minister Zelensky said 50,000 books were destroyed in the fire caused by the attack.
The attack on the printing plant shocked the country as videos were shared online showing charred corpses and stacks of books reduced to ash. Kharkiv is Ukraine’s publishing hub, and many citizens saw the airstrikes as further evidence of the Kremlin’s efforts to eradicate Ukrainian culture.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Saturday’s attack, writing on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that it was “unacceptable.”
Mr Syniehubov said the Epicentr chain’s hardware supermarket was hit by two powerful aerial bombs in the middle of the day. Known as glide bombs, these weapons can deliver hundreds of pounds of explosives and level multi-story buildings in a single explosion.
Russia used bombs primarily to destroy Ukrainian positions on the front line and accelerate the advance of its troops. This tactic proved particularly successful in the capture of the eastern city of Avdivka last February.
But since March, Moscow has also used bombs to target Kharkiv. They are difficult to shoot down with air defense systems, leaving people essentially helpless.
Ukrainian officials said the only solution was to shoot down the launch plane. missile. But the bombs are designed to fly tens of miles, allowing Russian warplanes to launch them inside Russia, far from Ukrainian anti-aircraft systems. And Western allies have banned Ukraine from firing Western-supplied long-range missiles at Russia.
“The shelling of Kharkiv, all the deaths of people and children – this is their great advantage. “Using bombs every day is a huge advantage of bombs.” Mr. Zelensky said in an interview with The New York Times last week.
Ukraine’s leader has pressured Western allies to lift a ban on missile launches into Russian territory and increase the number of F-16 fighter jets capable of shooting down long-distance targets sent to Kiev.
“Is there a suitable weapon in the world to deal with this? yes. Is there any weapon more suitable than Russia’s arsenal? yes. Does Ukraine have both sufficient quantities and permits? no.” Mr. Zelensky said in an interview:
