Russian missile did not hit any military targets in a Ukrainian hamlet – Officials

A Ukrainian police official said that a village was hit by a Russian missile strike on Thursday, but there were no military targets there. This was one of the worst attacks on civilians since the conflict started, and the president of Ukraine called it inhuman and deliberate.

The military from Moscow attacked a café and store in Hroza, a town near the city of Kupiansk in Ukraine. They used a very strong ballistic missile called Iskander, according to Ukrainian officials. This attack resulted in the deaths of 51 people, including a young boy who was only 6 years old.

Pictures showed emergency workers walking through a lot of destroyed debris after the attack. This level of destruction hasn’t been seen since a Russian attack on a train station in Kramatorsk in 2022, where over 60 people died.

In a small community of 330 people, the number of people who died is very high. It means that out of every six residents, one person passed away.

Everyone who lives here are locals, and they are also regular people. There is no military equipment or vehicles at all. “All the people who were killed or injured were innocent civilians,” Sergey Bolvinov, the main investigator from Kharkiv’s regional police, explained to CNN in Hroza.

Investigators and forensic teams worked all night going through the debris, trying to count and recognize the bodies. The explosion was so powerful that many of the bodies were badly damaged. This information was reported by a CNN team at the location.

A man from the area whose wife died in the attack was seen kneeling beside her, feeling very upset and unable to talk or move away from her. Afterwards, he assisted the people in charge of emergency services in placing her body onto a truck so it could be transported elsewhere.

Bolvinov announced that they have identified the bodies of 35 victims up until now.

He said he believes that in the future, we will have enough evidence to catch and punish the Russian military who are responsible. He also mentioned that they are looking into the attack as a breach of war laws and customs.

There were new Russian bomb attacks in Kharkiv on Friday. Sadly, one child died when a building collapsed. The mayor of the city, Ihor Terekhov, said that the strikes were only targeting civilian buildings.

Officials in Ukraine think that the attack included two Iskander missiles, which are the same type used in the Hroza strike.

In a message on Telegram, Terekhov said that a tall building with three floors was destroyed and two buildings with apartments were harmed, but that two individuals were saved by the emergency team.

Oleh Syniehubov, who is in charge of the Kharkiv region’s military administration, said that a total of 16 individuals were hurt, including a baby who is 11 months old. The boy who passed away was 10 years old, he stated.

Many people came together at a cafe in Hroza on Thursday to mourn the death of a Ukrainian soldier from the area. Suddenly, a missile hit the building and completely destroyed it, according to officials from Ukraine.

The soldier was originally buried in a city called Dnipro. However, his family wanted to move his remains to the village where he grew up. This information was shared by Dmytro Chubenko, who works for the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, in an interview with a Ukrainian news outlet called RBC. The explosion caused the death of some of the soldier’s family, including his son, according to Chubenko.

Ukrainian officials said Hroza was attacked by a missile called Iskander. This missile can travel a short distance and carry a warhead weighing between 500 and 700 kilograms.

Bolvinov said that Iskander is a very large missile. The building is completely ruined or wrecked. There was a lot of noise and confusion because many people were in the same room at that time.

After the attack, the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, repeated his request for more air defenses from friends. He said that without additional support, it is difficult to keep people safe, especially with the expected bombings in the upcoming winter.

There isn’t anything written that can prevent such bad things from happening. However, there is protection against attacks from the air. There are big guns. These are our weapons. We have strong vehicles. Zelensky said that we have strong soldiers who are defending against Russian attacks.

We want the Russian acts of terror to be unsuccessful. And the world has what is needed to make sure of this,” he said. The most important thing is working together as one. The most important thing is to have faith in freedom and keep life safe.

During meetings in Granada, Spain, Ukrainian President Zelensky discussed Ukraine’s air defense needs with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Zelensky expressed his belief that significant progress has been made in obtaining the necessary support.

He said Ukraine will get six Hawk systems from Spain, and Germany will help provide Kyiv with another Patriot system because it is the only system that can handle such threats and attacks.

The White House said that the attack is another reason why Congress should give more aid to Ukraine.

White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre shared a scary story about going to the grocery store with your kids and witnessing a horrifying explosion. She then asked Congress for more money to respond to such incidents.

She made these comments during a time of political chaos in Congress, the part of government that makes laws, and a shortage of ammunition among NATO countries. The lack of ammunition puts the supply of military aid to Kyiv at risk.

Hroza is a place that is about 40 kilometers away from where the war is happening near Kupiansk. Kupiansk is a city in Kharkiv that was taken over by the Russian forces at the beginning of the war, but the Ukrainians were able to free it a year ago.

The Ukrainian army has been trying to stop the progress made by Moscow. Kyiv is an important city for strategic reasons. It helps stop Russia from getting to the Oskil River, which is easier to cross than other areas further south.