The death toll from an airstrike on the northeastern Ukrainian village in the Kharkiv region has risen to 59 and all victims were civilians, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Thursday (Oct 12), nearly a week after the attack where the death toll was reported to be 52. The attack was said to be one of Russia’s deadliest attacks on civilians since the beginning of its invasion.
All victims were civilians
The Russian missile had hit a cafe in Hroza on Friday (Oct 6) where people gathered to mourn a fallen Ukrainian soldier. Amid repeated accusations by Kyiv that Moscow is deliberately targeting its civilians, the Kremlin yet again denied the allegations.
“The Russians killed 59 people with a direct hit with an Iskander (missile) on the village of Hroza,” said Klymenko on Telegram. He added, “All victims are local residents. They were pensioners, medics, farmers, teachers, entrepreneurs. All were civilians. Entire families of several generations died.”
The death toll is said to be among one of the highest ones among civilians in any single Russian strike in nearly 20 months of the ongoing Ukraine war. Klymenko said forensic experts worked round the clock for six days to identify the victims.
The experts also required mobile DNA laboratories to identify 19 and one 60-year-old man was identified only after 20 body parts were collected.
The Ukrainian SBU security service, on Wednesday (Oct 11) accused two villagers who it said had fled to Russia of helping guide the missile strike.
Romania finds ‘drone crater’
Romania, a NATO member and country which borders Ukraine, found a “drone crater” on Thursday after Russia bombarded a Ukrainian port on the Danube river, said Bucharest’s defence ministry.
The country had also found drone debris several times near its border with Ukraine, last month, prompting them to build air-raid shelters in the eastern Romanian village of Plauru.
“Around 5:00 am (local time), the teams on the ground reported the discovery of a drone crater – with a possible explosion on impact – in a vegetated area… about three kilometres west of Plauru,” said the defence ministry in a statement.
“The Ministry of National Defence strongly condemns the attacks carried out by the Russian Federation against targets and elements of civilian infrastructure in Ukrainian Danube ports,” it added. Romania also said that they would work with NATO to investigate the incident.
Czech Republic and Denmark
The Czech Republic and Denmark “in the months to come” will send nearly 50 armoured vehicles and combat tanks, 2,500 handguns, 7,000 rifles, 500 machine guns and 500 sniper rifles to Ukraine as part of a joint project and based on the “demand and needs” of Ukraine’s armed forces, said the Czech defence ministry, on Thursday.
The ammunition will be the first phase of the project which also includes intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment and large-calibre ammunition.
“This is a substantial donation of equipment, for which there is great demand in Ukraine,” said the Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen.
As a part of their next phase, Prague and Copenhagen expect to provide the Ukrainian army with 500 heavy machine guns, 280 auto-loading cannons, 7,000 anti-tank weapons, 10,000 hand grenades and 60 mortar systems.
(With inputs from agencies)
Disclaimer: A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on Ukraine-Russia war on the ground and online. While WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing developments, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.
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