Russian strike kills 18 people in Kharkiv megastore, the deadliest attack Ukraine has seen in weeks

Eighteen people, including a 12-year-old girl, were killed in a Russian strike that hit a large store in Kharkiv on Saturday, regional officials have said, making it the deadliest attack Ukraine has endured in several weeks.

Eighteen people, including a 12-year-old girl, are among those killed in a Russian strike that hit a large store in Kharkiv at the weekend, regional officials have said, making it the deadliest attack Ukraine has endured in several weeks. Five people remain missing, Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv region military administration, said Monday. He said that 48 people were injured in the strike that hit the Epicenter hypermarket shopping center building while nearly 200 people were inside. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second biggest city, which sits near its border with Russia, has seen a spate of Russian attacks in recent weeks. Security camera footage of the moment of the strike shows the building shake on impact, with the whole site immediately engulfed in thick smoke and flames. Police and witnesses described at least two explosions taking place. Oleksandr Lutsenko, director of the Epicenter shopping center, said he was in his office on the second floor at the time of the two explosions. “I started to make my way down the corridor to the evacuation exit, but it was dark and the whole corridor was covered in dust. There was no air to breathe,” he told CNN over the telephone.