Ukraine war: At least 2 dead after Russian forces strike DIY supermarket in Kharkiv
Russian strikes on a DIY shop in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Saturday killed at least two people and wounded many more.
The strikes triggered a huge blaze that fire crews were battling to contain, regional officials said.
Oleh Syniehubov, Kharkiv regional governor, said on the Telegram messaging app that two guided bombs had hit the DIY shop in a residential area of the city.
He said 24 people were injured along with the two confirmed deaths.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said many people were unaccounted for but gave no immediate figures.
Up to 200 people could have been in the hypermarket at the time of the strikes.
"The attack targeted the shopping centre, where there were many people - this is clearly terrorism," Mr Terekhov said.
Video footage showed huge clouds of dark smoke rising into the sky from the site with firefighters' vehicles and rescuers heading to the scene.
Kharkiv is Ukraine's second-largest city and has been the target of many weeks of Russian attacks.
Witnesses described panicked scenes at the shopping centre.
“I was at my workplace. I heard the first hit and ... with my colleague, we fell to the ground. There was the second hit and we were covered with debris. Then we started to crawl to the higher ground," Dmytro Syrotenko told the Reuters news agency.
He said he was taken to safety by a rescue worker who helped him, several colleagues, and shoppers.
Immediately after the strike, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy issued a fresh plea for more air defences to be able to protect the city of about 1.3 million people.
Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, but thousands have been killed and injured during its 27-month full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
