Kharkiv Oblast village razed: photos document horror wrought on Hroza by Russian missile attack
In the village of Hroza, Kharkiv Oblast, 52 people have already been reported dead as a result of yesterday's Russian attack on a cafe. hromadske journalists visited the village and showed what the village looks like now, where the Russians killed a sixth of the population.
The death toll has risen to 52, as one person died in a medical facility later, regional governor Oleg Synegubov announced on national television. According to him, some people are still in hospitals with serious injuries.
On the morning of October 6, rescuers resumed search operations in the eastern Ukrainian village. They are still searching for the remains of the bodies of the victims and dismantling the rubble.
The cafe that was hit by the Russian missile was holding a wake for the fallen soldier Andriy Kozyr.
Local resident Olha, a friend of the wife of the fallen soldier, showed a photo of Andriy and his family. They were all in the cafe and died.
"One missile buried the entire village. Each house will now have not just one coffin, but five coffins, three coffins at once... We are the only ones left here. There is no one left. The whole village is over there, and I'm afraid to go there to look," Olha says.
Vadym, 76, who lives nearby, told us that the commemorated soldier died in a hospital in Dnipro and was buried there. The family could not rebury the soldier in his hometown for a long time.
"They are beasts, not people," says Vadym, a resident of the village of Hroza in Kharkiv Oblast, where Russians killed 52 civilians yesterday. The cafe where the soldier was commemorated was mostly filled with his fellow villagers. Vadym is sure that the missile strike was carried out after local collaborators shared the location with the Russian military.
A three-day mourning period for the victims was announced in Kharkiv Oblast, from October 6 to 8.
More on the attack on Kharkiv Oblast
On October 5, at about 1:25 p.m., the Russian military attacked the village of Hroza in the Kupyansk district of Kharkiv Oblast. According to preliminary findings, the aggressor fired an Iskander missile that hit a cafe and adjacent store. At that time, a wake for a local resident, a fallen soldier, was taking place there.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that there is a suspicion that the missile could have been "spotted." It is possible that it could have been done by someone from the local community.
Police identified 35 bodies of the dead. Three people are still missing. Six people are in hospitals, according to the regional police.
According to Volodymyr Tymoshko, the head of the Kharkiv Oblast police, there are very mutilated bodies and DNA tests are needed to identify them.
Law enforcement officers opened a criminal investigation under Part 2 of Article 438 (violation of the laws and customs of war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The article provides for up to 15 years or life imprisonment.
Casualties from the attack numbered among the highest from a single incident since Russia launched its February invasion, setting a tragic record for Kharkiv Oblast in civilian lives lost at one time.
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