“The terrorists deliberately carried out the attack during lunchtime, to ensure a maximum number of casualties,” said Defence Minister Rustem Umerov.
“There were no military targets there. This is a heinous crime intended to scare Ukrainians.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was attending a summit with European leaders in Spain, said that “the Russian terror should be stopped”. “Now we are talking with European leaders, in particular, about strengthening our air defence, about strengthening our soldiers, about giving our country protection from terror,” he said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia has frequently carried out air strikes since the start of its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive in the south and east that it says is gradually making progress.
Moscow did not immediately comment on the events in Hroza. Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, but many have been killed in attacks that have hit residential areas as well as energy, defence, port, grain and other facilities.
