Russian forces continue to intensify attacks on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, where officials said at least six people were killed and dozens trapped after an artillery shell hit a building supplies store on May 25, and surrounding villages have reported damage and injuries from drone and missile attacks.
Mayor Igor Terekhov said a shell appeared to have landed in a large shopping centre in a residential area of Ukraine's second-largest city, leaving many people missing and injured.
In a Telegram post, he said: Preliminary Information The explosion “occurred at a construction hypermarket,” it said.
“There are already two [workers] “Many dead. Many missing. Many injured. This is pure terrorism,” he said.
An RFE/RL Ukraine correspondent captured footage of emergency workers rushing to the scene as thick smoke poured from the hypermarket, and people could be seen fleeing the scene, at least one of whom appeared to be visibly injured.
Officials later raised the death toll to six, said at least 40 were injured and 16 were missing.
A woman who gave her name as Lyubov told AFP she was working as a cleaner at the hypermarket when the huge explosion occurred.
“It all happened so suddenly,” she said. “At first I didn't understand. Everything went dark and everything was falling on our heads.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said dozens of people may have been inside the store when the shells struck.
“At this time we understand there may have been more than 200 people inside the hypermarket.” Zelensky said in a Telegram message.
“This blow to Kharkiv is another manifestation of Russian madness,” Zelensky said.
The details could not immediately be independently verified.
Russia's state news agency TASS reported, citing security sources, without providing evidence, that the hypermarket contained a “military warehouse and command post.”
Russia denies targeting civilian areas despite widespread evidence of such actions.
Western and Ukrainian military experts say the Kremlin's latest offensive is aimed at pushing Ukrainian forces to their limits in the northeast and bringing Russian troops within artillery range of Kharkiv, a city of about 1.4 million people.
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Meanwhile, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Sinyevbov said: At least five people were reported injured An emergency vehicle was reportedly damaged in a Russian missile attack in the village of Kupyansk Buzlovy.
Two days earlier, Sinievbov said at least seven people had been killed in Kharkiv in a series of Russian military attacks, which Zelenskiy called “extremely brutal.”
In a video address on the evening of May 24th, Zelensky said: Ukrainian forces have recaptured some territory in the area, but details are difficult to pin down as fighting continues to be fierce.
Zelenskiy and other Ukrainian officials have called on Western allies to step up supplies of air defense and other weaponry to help Ukraine's military, which is outmanned and outgunned, particularly in the country's northeast.
In Russia, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that Ukrainian rockets had Killed three people In residential areas of two villages in the region.
Kiev did not comment on the reports but said it was not targeting civilian areas. In recent months, Russian fuel depots and military facilities have come under missile attack, many in the Belgorod region near the border.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview published on May 24: The Economist Ukraine should be allowed to use weapons supplied by Western countries to attack military targets inside Russia.
NATO's secretary-general said current restrictions were making it “very difficult” for Ukraine to defend itself and urged member states to “consider whether they should be lifted”.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian media reported that at least 28 Ukrainian military commanders were under criminal investigation for alleged military failures amid an escalation of Russian offensive operations near Kharkiv.
The investigation is reportedly being carried out by Ukraine's State Investigative Service and focuses on allegations that defenses along the border with Russia were not properly prepared.
Ukrainian forces have been under intense pressure since Russia launched a surprise attack on the Kharkiv region on May 10, shelling border villages and attempting to occupy Vovchansk, a small town just five kilometers from the Russian border.
Thousands of civilians were displaced during the offensive and Ukrainian forces suffered heavy losses, forcing them to withdraw to better-defended front lines.
According to reports, the 28 officers under investigation are at command level in the 125th Brigade, 415th Rifle Battalion and 23rd Mechanised Brigade.
Neither the Ukrainian government nor the military has commented on the reports.
On the diplomatic front, he told G7 finance ministers meeting in northern Italy that “some progress” had been made in finding ways to use profits from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.
“We are moving forward in our consultations on potential measures to advance to Ukrainian interests the significant benefits accruing from entrenched Russian state assets in accordance with international law and our respective legal systems,” the ministers said in a draft statement seen by AFP news agency.
