Dozens of villagers die in latest attack on Ukraine

A Russian attack killed at least 49 people, including a six-year-old boy, in a village in the Kharkiv region of north-eastern Ukraine on Thursday.

Kharkiv region governor Oleh Synehubov said that a cafe and a shop had been attacked in the early afternoon at the village of Hroza in the Kupyansk district, and that many civilians had been there at the time.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had targeted the stores in an act of “genocidal aggression”.

Officials posted footage of — rescue workers clambering through smouldering rubble.

Numerous bodies lay alongside slabs of concrete and twisted metal. It was not immediately clear whether Russian forces, which invaded Ukraine 19 months ago, had shelled the village or had fired a missile.

The Kharkiv region has been on the front line of clashes —between Russian and Ukrainian armies since the beginning of the war in Feburary 2022.

Kupiansk is in the east of the region, and wasa major supply hub for Russian forces following the invasion.

In September last year, Kyiv said it had reclaimed some parts of Kharkiv region, after months of fighting.