WASHINGTON: The White House on Thursday strongly condemned a Russian strike that killed at least 51 people in a village in eastern Ukraine.
According to western media reports the US said the attack underscored the need to keep supporting Kyiv against Russia.
“It is incredibly horrifying for the people of Ukraine,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told a briefing. “This is why we’re doing everything that we can to help Ukraine.”
Rescue operation to locate survivors completed
Meanwhile Ukrainian authorities said that rescue operations to locate survivors of a Russian strike on the eastern Ukrainian village of Groza were completed.
Ukraine’s state emergency service said that as of 7.20 pm (1620 GMT) emergency and rescue work in the village of Groza, Kupiansk district, has been completed.
Earlier Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said that at least forty-nine people were killed in a Russian attack that hit a grocery store in the northeast Kharkiv region. He labelled the strike as a terrorist attack.
Zelensky on his Telegram account conveyed condolences to all those who have lost their loved ones. He also posted an image of a woman kneeling over the body of someone apparently killed in the strike.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko in a statant said that residents of the small village of about 330 residents had been holding a memorial service in the cafe that was targeted. He said a six-year-old child was among the victim.
