Extract from ABC News
A Russian missile attack has killed a 10-year-old boy and his grandmother in the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, officials say.
Key points:
- Officials said preliminary information indicated that the Kremlin's forces used two Iskander missiles in the attack
- The strike came after the deadly attack on the Ukrainian village of Hroza that killed 52 people
- UN deployed a field team to investigate the air strike on Hroza
Elsewhere in the region, villagers prepared to bury their dead after a strike the previous day killed at least 52 civilians in one of the deadliest attacks in the war in months.
Associated Press reporters saw emergency crews pulling the boy's body from the rubble of a building after the early morning attack. He was wearing pyjamas with a Spider-Man design.
The strike also killed the boy's grandmother and injured an 11-month-old child, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.
Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said in all, 30 people were injured. Rescue operations were continuing.
Officials said preliminary information indicated Kremlin forces used two Iskander missiles in the attack, the same as in the previous day's attack on the eastern village of Hroza.
One of the missiles landed in the street, leaving a crater, and the other hit a three-story building, setting it ablaze, according to Mr Syniehubov.
Debris and rubble littered the street. Surrounding buildings were blackened by the blast, which blew out windows and damaged parked cars.
The strikes came as Mr Synegubov updated the death toll from Thursday's missile strike on Hroza.
"Fifty-two people have died as a result of this missile attack because one more person died in a medical facility," Mr Synegubov told state-run television, raising the toll by one.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the strike as another example of "Russian terror" in a statement offering condolences to the child's family.
Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, lies in a region bordering Russia.
It has been under persistent Russian shelling since Moscow's forces invaded in February last year.
Villagers mourn over Hroza attack
In Hroza, workers at the local cemetery on Friday cut down trees and mowed grass to prepare graves for those killed.
They are to be buried not far from Ukrainian soldier Andrii Kozyr, whose wake they were attending when the strike happened.
Many people in the village of about 300 lost relatives or friends in the attack.
They gathered to mourn in groups in the village centre, which was largely deserted except for people picking up humanitarian aid, including materials to repair their damaged houses.
In a courtyard near the cafe wrecked by the missile, people placed candles and flowers to honour the dead.
Three days of mourning were announced in the Kharkiv region after the attack, the deadliest in the region since Russia's invasion more than 19 months ago.
It was also one of the biggest civilian death tolls in any single Russian strike.
About 20 rescuers from Kharkiv city were cleaning the rubble from the destroyed cafe and nearby shop on Friday morning.
Mr Zelenskyy, attending a summit of about 50 European leaders in Spain to rally support from Ukraine's allies, called the strike a "demonstrably brutal Russian crime" and "a completely deliberate act of terrorism".
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Friday described the Kharkiv attacks as "atrocities" that "prove that global support for Ukraine must be sustained and increased".
UN to probe Hroza strike
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) deployed a field team on Friday to investigate the air strike on Hroza.
OCHR said the missile had likely been fired by Russia but that it was too early to say for certain.
"The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, who saw for himself the horrific impact of such strikes, is profoundly shocked and condemns these killings," OHCHR spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell told reporters in Geneva.
"He has deployed a field team to the site to speak to survivors and gather more information."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Russia was responsible for the Hroza attack.
He insisted, as Moscow has in the past, that the Russian military doesn't target civilian facilities.
"At this stage, it's obviously very difficult to establish with absolute certainty what happened," Ms Throssell said.
"But given the location, given the fact that the cafe was struck, and the indications are that it was a Russian missile."
She added, however, that the attack needed to be looked at further.
"The absolutely clear thing is that there was horrible loss of life and of course, that is to be deplored in all circumstances."
Ms Throssell said OHCHR's human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine had established the names of 35 people who were killed in the strike, including 19 women, 15 men and an eight-year-old boy.
"Before the Russian invasion, the village's population was about 300," Ms Throssell said.
"It's not clear how many residents were still living there, but it's clear that with the high number of people killed, everybody in this small community has been affected."
ABC/wires
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