Russia bombs hardware supermarket in Kharkiv, killing 6, Ukraine says

It is the latest attack in a sustained bombing campaign that has made life increasingly dangerous for civilians in the city ​​in northeastern Ukraine.

Russia bombed a hardware store in the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday afternoon , killing at least six people and injuring at least 40 others, Ukrainian officials said. The attack was the latest in a sustained bombing campaign against the city that has made life increasingly difficult and dangerous for civilians.

Oleh Syniehubov, chief of the Kharkiv regional military administration. , said 16 people were still missing, suggesting the death toll could rise. He added that another airstrike on Saturday in the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, injured at least 14 people.

« Durant all day Kharkiv was under Russian terrorist strikes. The air raid in the Kharkiv region has been going on for more than 12 hours," President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media.

Saturday's attack, added Mr. Zelensky stressed the importance of Ukraine's recent calls for Western allies to provide it with air defense systems and other weapons capable of shooting down Russian missiles and bomb-delivering planes. "If Ukraine had sufficient air defense systems and modern combat aircraft, Russian strikes like this would have been impossible," he said.

Videos and photos posted online by Ukrainian officials showed large plumes of black smoke billowing from the supermarket, as firefighters rushed to put out a blaze that authorities said stretched 10 000 square meters.

Kharkiv, which is currently home to 1.3 million people. people and located just 40 kilometers from the Russian border, has been increasingly targeted by Russian airstrikes in recent months, in what Ukrainian officials and military experts say is a tactic intended to intimidate residents and sow panic.

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