DOZENS of people are feared dead after two Russian missiles hit a Ukrainian retail park packed with hundreds of civilians .
Dramatic footage shows massive plumes of black smoke rising into the Kharkiv sky after the Epicentre construction hypermarket became engulfed by flames.
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Witnesses told a Sun reporter on the scene there were 200 people inside the 10,000sqft construction hypermarket.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the appalling number and so far no one has been rescued from the building alive.
At least four people have been confirmed dead so far.
Two of those who died were store employees, 40 people were injured in the attack and a further 16 are missing.
In one of Ukraine’s darkest days since the war began, a residential apartment block and a park in Kharkiv were also blitzed by Russian missiles.
The Sun’s team saw a massive crater near the flats – with fears of more dead in the besieged city.
Our reporter Paul Sims also saw bodies lying in the car park next to abandoned trolleys following today’s deadliest attack on Ukraine’s second largest city.
Paul arrived at the scene of the explosion just minutes after it happened and found a scene of carnage.
Emergency services raced to put out the flames as loud bangs from chemicals inside the building erupted amid a desperate rescue operation.
One of those dead lay star-shaped next to a trolley in the car park. Another body lay nearby.
Hero Brit volunteer Tony Ferret, 34, of Rye, Kent, was among those trying to help as the sky filled with black smoke.
He told The Sun: “They were trying to move vehicles out of the way so they could get the fire engines in.
“I pushed them out of the way with my vehicle.
“No one came out of that building. No one survived.
“It’s a disgusting day. Very emotional, to be honest.”
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Tony added: “This is a shopping centre, a retail park. It’s Saturday and people were doing their shopping.
“It’s like hitting Tesco’s. This isn’t a military site. This was packed full of civilians.
“They’re whacking us hard – they have no respect for human life.”
Rescue services later began the devastating process of retrieving the bodies inside.
A police spokesman said: “Near the place of the hit, the work of the headquarters of the investigative department has been deployed.
“Here, relatives of the missing can provide their DNA samples for the identification of bodies that may be found in the hypermarket premises.
“The exact number of victims is being determined.”
Cops are using CCTV from the premises before the rocket attack to determine exactly how many people were inside.
The attack hit a busy retail park with a petrol station, supermarkets and even a McDonald’s.
The destroyed shop is said to be the equivalent to B&Q in the UK, containing dozens of flammable and chemical products inside.
Chemicals stored at the construction megastore are feared to have been ignited when it was struck by Putin’s two missiles fired by a S-300 weapons system.
The S-300 missile batteries are mobile air defence systems designed to shoot down fighter planes, not civilians.
Putin’s ‘ceasefire’ plot in Ukraine
BY Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
RUSSIAN tyrant Vladimir Putin is reportedly prepared to end the war in Ukraine – if Kyiv agrees to give up all of its territory stolen by his bloodthirsty forces over the years
He is considering the so-called “ceasefire” deal, sources close to his inner circle have said, as an end to the meatgrinder frontline fighting.
The warmonger president was reportedly frustrated at Western efforts to axe the plot – and Ukrainian leader Zelensky’s decision to rule out talks.
One of the sources close to the Kremlin said: “Putin can fight for as long as it takes, but Putin is also ready for a ceasefire to freeze the war.”
The brutal fighting kicked up a notch when Russia opened a fresh front in Ukraine’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv.
Brave Ukrainian troops are battling to hold Vlad’s armies at bay – and Putin is haemorrhaging soldiers in his battles of attrition.
But the horrific war, having now stretched on for more than two years, shows little sign of ending soon.
Reports earlier said that at least two people were killed in the strike on Saturday afternoon shortly after 4pm local time (2pm UK time).
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported explosions at 4.02pm local time, confirming the city had been struck.
In a statement on Telegram, he said: “We have a large number of people missing. Many wounded.
“Judging by everything, the attack was aimed at the shopping centre, where there were many people – this is pure terrorism. “
Terekhov added that, based on early reports, Putin’s forces had hit a construction materials hypermarket.
He said: “We have information about the fatalities and injuries, but it needs to be confirmed.”
Posting pictures and clips of the massive blaze, one devastated user tweeted: “Kharkiv right now. This is heartbreaking.
“This is a construction store, it was full of people when Russia struck it. Russia is a terrorist state!”
Head of Kharkiv Oblast administration, Oleh Syniehubov, said the Russians had struck “civilian commercial infrastructure”, and a fire broke out.
Syniehubov previously revealed that Russian forces had struck the settlement of Kupiansk-Vuzlove with a guided aerial bomb.
At least five people were injured, with an ambulance and one civilian vehicle damaged, Pravda reports.
In one of Ukraine’s darkest days, a residential apartment block and a park were also blitzed by a Russian missile.
War crimes prosecutors were at both sites sifting through the rubble in search of evidence – including fragments from the warhead.
A huge crater from the impact of the rocket was visible at the entrance of the apartment block which is close to a popular stretch of restaurants.
The entire front of the block was blown off and buildings beyond damaged by the blast wave.
Rows of cars lined up in the street were destroyed in the attack as eerie silence descended on the area.
Dogs barked in the distance as the crunch of broken glass and rubble could be heard beneath feet.
Putin’s invasion in Kharkiv
By Paul Sims
UKRAINE’S second largest city of Kharkiv was blitzed from the air on May 10 as advancing enemy troops were pegged back.
They fired missiles, drones and glider bombs towards the border towns of Vovchansk, Lyptsi and beyond.
The relentless daily bombardment from the skies was stepped up as Ukraine’s warriors repelled a series of ground offensives.
In a town 15 miles from the frontline, the residents of a quiet residential street were among the latest casualties of Russia’s onslaught.
We found Vasyl Lutsenko, 67, at the base of a tree overlooking the charred remains of the home he and wife Olena have shared for the last 24 years.
Their property was hit by an Iranian-made Shahed-136 kamikaze drone shortly after 2am and burned to the ground.
It hit their Summer kitchen before the flames spread instantly to the main house and the neighbours next door.
The timber frames were still smouldering as we arrived yesterday amid piles of brickwork and masonry, twisted metal and their charred possessions.
The roof is no more and all that remains of the lives they created here is a wasteland of treasured memories.
Bearded Vasyl manages a smile as he mentions Boris Johnson and says he and Olena, 58, are lucky to be alive. He is already talking about rebuilding.
But it is too much for Olena who suddenly breaks down and shakes her head as a tear rolls down her cheek.
The Lutsenko home is the latest to be struck by the indiscriminate attacks that have increased daily over the last three weeks.
Extraordinary video footage taken by firefighters hours earlier showed their two-bedroom home engulfed by flames.
Vasyl and Olena escaped via their bedroom window after it was blown in by the power of the blast.
Olena was in her slippers but is now wearing a pair of trainers donated by a neighbour.
Vasyl says: “The world needs to understand that we cannot stop Vladimir Putin on our own.
“The whole world needs to end Putin. He won’t stop. You will have the war in London and around your home if he is not stopped.
“Today, we have great news. We are alive and I suspect this dumbf*** Putin will be dead soon.
“He’s a d***head.”
Next door, Oleksii Yakhno, 71, is surveying the devastating damage to the home he and wife Olga, 68, have lived in for the last 51 years.
Oleksii was asleep in a back bedroom and his wife was on a sofa bed in the kitchen when the drone struck.
Olga cried out to her husband to save the family car, a purple 13 series Lada, as the ceilings caved in.
He did as he was told and ran out in his pants, diving into the front seat as the flames tore through the garage.
Tearful Oleksii tells me: “My wife saw the neighbour’s summer kitchen hit by the drone.
“It caught fire immediately and my wife told me to go and save our car.
“I went off – even in my underwear – ran into the garage and started the engine.
“Over the last few years I’ve been saving money so that my daughter’s can pay for my funeral when I’m dead, but it’s all gone.”
His eyes fill with tears as he says: “I don’t have any feelings – just that I have lost the roof over my head.
“The home and everything we owned is gone – I just don’t know what to do.
“Maybe I would be better off dead. It’s very, very bad. What can I do now? I have lived my entire life here.”
Local Mayor Ihor Terekhov told The Sun: “People are left with nothing right now. We will definitely help them and do our best to rebuild their lives.
“The Russian aggressor is carrying out crimes every day against the Ukrainian nation.”
In a statement, Zelensky slammed the “brutal blow” to Kharkiv.
He said: “As of now, it is known that more than 200 people could be in the hypermarket.
“All services are already on site providing assistance – rescuing people and extinguishing the fire, which completely engulfed the premises.”
The Ukrainian leader went on to make a desperate plea for help.
Zelensky said: “If Ukraine had enough air defence and modern combat aircraft, such Russian strikes would simply be impossible.
“And that is why we appeal to all leaders, to all states: we need a significant strengthening of air defence and sufficient capabilities to destroy Russian terrorists.
“A task that needs to be done and can only be done together with the world. Every day we appeal to the world: give us air defence, save people. Every support decision not taken is a loss of our people.”
He went on to add: “Today’s Russian strikes on Kharkiv are yet another example of Russian madness—there is no other way to describe it.
“Only insane people like Putin are capable of killing and terrorising people in such heinous ways.”
The latest missile attack came less than 48 hours after seven were killed and 16 wounded in another rocket strike on a printing press in the city.
Up to 15 S-300 missiles were fired at Kharkiv during rush hour on Thursday.
The Vivat publishing house was completely destroyed as body bags with the victims were carried from the building one after another.
Meanwhile, Ukraine claimed Putin’s Russia reached a grim milestone after losing more than 500,000 soldiers in their failing war.
Kyiv said Moscow’s crumbling army has also lost some 22,000 tanks and armoured vehicles and nearly 700 aircraft since the invasion.
