Russia-Ukraine war live: Deadly attack on supermarket in Kharkiv leaves 14 dead and dozens injured

Finance officials from the Group of Seven rich democracies said they were moving toward an agreement on a U.S. proposal to squeeze more money for Ukraine from Russian assets frozen in their countries, but ministers said they would not hammer out a final agreement until a leaders’ summit in June.

“We are making progress in our discussions on possible ways to use the extraordinary profits from immobilized Russian state assets for the benefit of Ukraine,” the draft statement said, without giving details.

Despite progress made at the meeting in Stresa, northern Italy, on Lake Maggiore, the final decision on how to use the funds will rest with G7 leaders, including US President Joe Biden, at their annual summit next month in Fasano, southern Italy.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned on Sunday that Russia was preparing to intensify its offensive along Ukraine’s northern border after the death toll in a bomb attack on a major building materials store in the city of Kharkiv rose to 14.

In the bomb attack on Kharkiv on Saturday afternoon, 43 people were injured and 16 missing, said Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov.

In a video message from Kharkiv, Zelensky said Russia was preparing an offensive 90 kilometers northwest of Ukraine’s second-largest city. He said the Russians were “assembling another group of troops near our border.”

A Russian nighttime attack destroyed railway tracks and rolling stock in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, officials said Friday, as authorities organized the evacuation of children from the area, which is being shelled as part of a new, massive offensive by Kremlin forces.

According to the Ukrainian railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia, buildings and freight wagons were also damaged by the night-time strike. No injuries were reported.

Since the Russian attack on May 10, authorities have evacuated more than 11,000 people from Kharkiv region, said the region’s governor, Oleh Syniehubov. On Friday, authorities announced that 123 orphans and children living in the region without their parents must be evacuated within the next 60 days.

Fourteen people were killed and dozens more injured in a Russian attack on a busy hardware store in Kharkiv, Ukrainian prosecutors said on Sunday morning. The death toll is rising while the country’s second-largest city is still reeling from the two attacks a day earlier.

Two guided bombs hit the Epicentr hardware store in a residential area of ​​the city on Saturday afternoon, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on national television.

The attacks caused a massive fire that sent a thick, black column of smoke hundreds of meters into the air.

Chilean politicians have met on the other side of the world to bolster their claims in Antarctica as tensions rise over Russian activities in the area.

Members of Chile’s parliamentary defense committee flew to an abandoned air base to attend a meeting billed as a demonstration of national sovereignty.

Committee member Camila Flores singled out Russia in particular as a threat, saying: “We will sit in Antarctica to demonstrate our sovereignty and to protect and support our national integrity in the face of any threats.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday appealed to U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend an upcoming peace summit as his country struggles to fend off relentless attacks from Russia in its 27-month-long invasion.

Moscow’s forces have advanced onto the battlefield in recent weeks and stepped up their air strikes on cities. Kyiv hopes the June meeting in Switzerland will help increase international pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In an English-language video shot in the charred remains of a printing press destroyed in a Russian airstrike on Thursday, Zelensky said the summit would “show who in the world really wants to end the war.”

“I appeal to world leaders who are still standing back from the global efforts of the Global Peace Summit, to President Biden, the head of the United States, and to President Xi, the head of China,” he said.

“Please show your leadership in promoting peace, real peace and not just a lull between attacks.”

Askold Krushelnycky Reports from Sumy, near the border with Russia. About three hours’ drive from the fierce fighting around Kharkiv, the area is preparing for its own attack by Moscow troops:

Andriy Kudinov, director of the suburban shopping center, told local media that the Kharkiv hardware store was full of customers buying items for their summer homes at the time of the attack.

It took 16 hours for the fire in the center, which had raged over an area of ​​13,000 square meters, to be completely extinguished, said Interior Minister Klymenko.

Rescue workers, paramedics and journalists had to temporarily leave the scenes of the two attacks on the city in a hurry and take cover on the ground, fearing another attack – as was the case with several recent Russian attacks.

Dmytro Syrotenko, a 26-year-old employee at the hardware store, described scenes of panic.

“I was at my workplace. I heard the first impact and … my colleague and I fell to the ground. Then the second impact came and we were covered with debris. Then we started crawling to higher ground,” said Syrotenko, who had a large cut on his face.

Syrotenko told Reuters he was brought to safety by a rescue worker who helped him, several colleagues and shoppers.

Last week there was an increase in attacks on the city after Russian troops crossed the border and opened a new front north of the city.

Russia bombed Kharkiv, less than 30 kilometers from the Russian border, throughout the war and reached the outskirts of the country in 2022 in a failed attempt to take the city.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to Ukraine’s Western allies to strengthen air defenses to ensure the security of the country’s cities. French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack on the store on the social media platform X as “unacceptable.”

Another rocket attack in the early evening hit a residential building in the center of the city of 1.3 million inhabitants. The number of people injured in this attack rose to 25 by Sunday morning.

The rocket left a crater several meters deep in the sidewalk at the foot of the building, which also housed a post office, a beauty salon and a café.

Rescue workers brought residents from nearby houses to safety. Some of the injured had blood on their faces.

Just across the border, in the Russian region of Belgorod, four residents were killed in Ukrainian attacks on Saturday, the region’s governor said.