by Max Hunder
HROZA, Ukraine (Reuters) – The death toll from Russian bombing of the village of Hroza in the Kharkiv region rose to 52 as rescuers searched the rubble for bodies on Friday, after one of the the deadliest attacks against civilians since the invasion of Moscow.
The attack, which occurred on Thursday, targeted a café and a grocery store where many civilians were present.
“Fifty-two people died as a result of this missile attack. One person died in a medical facility,” Oleh Synehoubov, governor of the Kharkiv region, told Ukrainian television. “People are still there (in hospitals). The injuries are quite serious.”
Rescue workers were still working at the scene searching for remains, he added.
A three-day mourning period has been declared in the Kharkiv region after the deadliest attack since the Russian invasion began more than 19 months ago.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) deployed a field team on Friday to investigate the attack, a spokeswoman for the Geneva-based organization said.
The team will talk to survivors and gather information, Elizabeth Throssell said.
“The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, who has seen first-hand the horrific impact of such strikes, is deeply shocked and condemns these killings.”
The missile was likely fired by Russia, but it is too early to be sure, OHCHR added.
“At this stage, it is obviously very difficult to establish with absolute certainty what happened (…) but everything suggests that it was a Russian missile.”
Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, but many attacks have hit residential areas as well as energy, port and grain facilities, among others.
Russia also launched new airstrikes on Ukraine on Friday, hitting the northeastern city of Kharkiv and damaging grain and port infrastructure in the Odessa region to the south, Ukrainian officials said.
(With the contribution of Olena Harmash; French version Kate Entringer, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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