Ukraine-Russia war – live: Hroza Iskander missile attack kills 51 as Putin delivers rambling speech

A Russian missile slammed into a cafe and grocery store in a village in northeastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing 51 people during a gathering to mourn a fallen Ukrainian soldier, Ukrainian officials said.

Large piles of bricks, shattered metal and building materials remained where the cafe and shop were hit early in the afternoon in Hroza village in Kharkiv region.

“A deliberate missile strike on a village in Kharkiv region on an ordinary store and cafe,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address, delivered while attending a summit of the European Political Community in Spain. “Russian troops could not have been unaware of where they were hitting. This was no blind strike.”

He added that a six-year-old boy was among the dead in what appeared to be one of the biggest civilian death tolls in any single Russian strike.

Moscow did not immediately comment on the events in Hroza. Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, but many have been killed in attacks that have hit residential areas as well as energy, defence, port, grain and other facilities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called the Canadian parliament’s standing ovations to honour a Ukrainian war veteran who served in Nazi Waffen SS units “disgusting”, and said it showed Moscow was right to “denazify” Ukraine.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month formally apologised after the speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, Anthony Rota, praised 98-year-old ex-soldier Yaroslav Hunka in the chamber while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was present. Rota said he had made a mistake and resigned.

“He essentially lumped together Nazi collaborators, SS troops and the Ukrainian military of today who are fighting against Russia,” Putin told an audience at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi in response to a question.

“He lumped them together. This only confirms our thesis that one of our goals in Ukraine is denazification.”

Vladimir Putin’s missile attack on a cafe and grocery store in northeastern Ukraine that led to 51 deaths, six injuries and three people left missing was “no blind strike”, said president Volodymyr Zelensky.

The strike is the deadliest in the Kharkiv region since Mr Putin’s Ukraine invasion and also among the biggest civilian death tolls in any single Russian missile attack, especially after January this year.

The missile strike occurred on Thursday afternoon in Kharkiv’s Hroza village where dozens had gathered to mourn a fallen Ukraine soldier, officials said.

“A deliberate missile strike on a village in Kharkiv region on an ordinary store and cafe,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Thursday.

Ukrainian forces have advanced in the eastern part of the war-hit nation where officials said Vladimir Putin has deployed over 110,000 troops, but Kyiv officials reported pressure further north.

The intensity of assaults have increased in the Lyman-Kupiansk sector, Ilia Yevlash, spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern group of forces, said. Mr Yevlash called the two towns the “most difficult area” as Russian forces use both ground and air forces.

Russian forces are actively using fighter jets, Su-35 and Su-25, and helicopters Ka-52 and Mi-8 in the region, he said. They were backed by Su-35 attack aircraft and started attacking along the frontline in the direction of Makiivka in the Luhansk region.

Joe Biden will meet with German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the White House on Friday to commemorate German-American Day, the White House has said in a statement.

The two leaders will reaffirm their ties, “including our close coordination as Nato Allies on a range of important issues such as defending democratic values and our shared commitment to support Ukraine as it defends itself from Russia’s invasion,” it said.

Joe Biden’s administration is considering using a US State Department grant programme to send additional military aid to Ukraine, Politico has reported, citing two officials with knowledge of the discussions.

The US president had suggested on Wednesday he would be making a “major” speech on alternative funding routes for Ukraine, after the US Congress left military funding for Kyiv out of a stopgap funding bill last weekend.

A Turkish-flagged cargo ship has sustained minor damage after hitting a mine in the Black Sea off the coast of Romania, maritime and security sources have told Reuters.

British maritime security company Ambrey, citing information it had received, said the ship struck a sea mine 11 nautical miles north of Sulina in Romania, near the entrance to the Sulina Canal.

“The vessel reportedly experienced an explosion at approximately 0920 UTC (GMT). The vessel dropped anchor for a short period to assess the damage,” Ambrey said in a note. “At 1210, the vessel resumed sailing,” Ambrey said, adding that no casualties were reported.

It was one of the first incidents for several months involving a ship hitting a sea mine. The Black Sea area has been listed as a high risk zone by insurers and floating mines remain a peril.

A Ukrainian government source confirmed a vessel had struck a mine, adding it was “probably a World War II mine, or the landing mines that were left there last year”, declining further comment. Yoruk Isik, head of the Bosphorus Observer consultancy, told Reuters separately that the vessel was the Kafkametler and had sustained minor damage to a ballast tank, but the crew was safe.

It comes a day after the UK warned that Russia could use sea mines to target civilian shipping in the Black Sea, including by laying them on the approach to Ukrainian ports.

One of the deadliest Russian attacks on civilians has taken place today, when a Russian missile struck a village cafe and store in the small village of Hroza in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 51 civilians attending a memorial service.

Here is a long list of some of Russia’s deadliest strikes since invading last February:

Nearly 50 European leaders have used the European Political Community summit in Spain to stress that they stand by Ukraine, at a time when resolve appears to be weakening in some Western nations.

In attendance at the summit, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky warned that beside maintaining such unity, more military aid to get through the winter was essential and warned now was not the time to waver in the face of the threat from Russia.

“Europe must be strong” despite what happens in other places like the US, Mr Zelensky said, calling on leaders to provide more air defence systems, artillery shells, long-range missiles and drones. Victory or defeat in Ukraine would determine the fate of all of Europe, he added.