Russian airstrike on cafe kills 51 in Ukraine

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire after the attack in the village of Hroza, near Kharkiv. Pic/AP

At least 51 civilians were killed Thursday in a Russian rocket strike on a village store in eastern Ukraine, one of the deadliest attacks in recent months that came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attended a summit of around 50 European leaders in Spain to drum up support from the country's allies.

A 6-year-old boy was among the dead and seven other people were wounded. Zelensky denounced the attack on the store and cafe in the village of Hroza as a "demonstrably brutal Russian crime" and "a completely deliberate act of terrorism." He urged Western allies to help strengthen Ukraine's air defenses, saying that "Russian terror must be stopped". "The key for us, especially before winter, is to strengthen air defense," Zelensky said.

Some 50 European leaders set to show support for Ukraine

Around 50 European leaders are using a summit in southern Spain's Granada on Thursday to stress they stand by Ukraine at a time when Western resolve appears somewhat weakened. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that maintaining such unity was now "the main challenge."

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Zelensky flew in early in the morning to the meeting of the European Political Community forum, which was formed in the wake of Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine that drastically reset the continent's political agenda and fundamentally undermined long-held beliefs on peace and stability on the continent. Despite the political, economic and military support, the desperate struggle to rid Ukraine territory of Russian has ground to a stalemate.

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