Several people in the village in the Kharkiv region told The Washington Post on Friday that they suspected a Russian sympathizer living among them had informed the Russian military that a gathering for a fallen Ukrainian soldier would be held at a cafe, which was in the building struck in the attack.
“This is not a coincidence,” Serhiy Pletinka, 34, a soldier who was home on leave from the southern front visiting his parents when the strike occurred, told The Post. He then dug through the rubble, pulling out scores of people he grew up with. “What else could it be?” said Lyuba Savchenko, 63, when asked whether she, too, thought a local collaborator informed Russian forces about the funeral reception. Her sister and four of her cousins were killed. The Post could not immediately verify the claims, but fury and suspicion were rife Friday as family members speculated about who might have targeted the gathering. Hroza was formerly occupied by Russian forces until a surprise Ukrainian counteroffensive liberated it last year. But some villagers remain loyal to Russia, many residents said.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Several relatives of the fallen Ukrainian soldier were killed in the attack on Hroza, including his widow. Two more artillery shells struck near the village Friday, as workers with excavators arrived to clear out trees to make space in the cemetery for the 52 fatalities — around one-sixth of the population of the village.
All of the victims were sent to a morgue in the regional capital, Kharkiv, which looked like the scene of a massacre Friday as dozens of employees sorted the bodies. The workers recovered the body of a boy, Ivan, who appeared to be the only child killed in the Hroza attack. Post reporters at the scene witnessed the body of only one person wearing a uniform. The morgue workers said they had seen no evidence of multiple military personnel among the dead — despite Moscow’s claims that Russia attacks only military targets. The United Nations, citing Ukrainian authorities, said one soldier who was attending his father’s funeral was among the dead.
The U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has identified 35 of those killed in the attack on Hroza, including 19 women, 15 men and an 8-year-old boy, a U.N. spokeswoman said Friday. The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, deployed a field team to the site to speak to survivors and gather more information about the attack, spokeswoman Liz Throssell said in a statement.
A separate strike in the same region Friday killed a 10-year-old child and his grandmother, according to a local official. Oleg Synyehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional administration, wrote on Telegram that 30 others were injured in the attack on the city of Kharkiv, including an 11-month-old child.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that any Russian decision to revoke its ratification of a nuclear test ban treaty with the United States would “not constitute a statement of intention to conduct nuclear tests.” On Thursday, President Vladimir Putin said Russia could revoke its own ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which Washington has signed but not ratified, while the speaker of Russia’s lower house said Friday that lawmakers would consider the decision next week.
Russia launched drone attacks against Ukraine, damaging port infrastructure in the south, Ukraine said Friday. Odessa regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram that one attack damaged a grain silo and caused a fire, which was extinguished. Ukraine’s military, meanwhile, wrote on Facebook that air defenses shot down 25 of 33 Russian drones that targeted six regions across the country. The Post was not immediately able to verify the claims.
Russia has successfully tested an experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile, Putin said. The missile, known as the Burevestnik in Russia and as Skyfall by NATO, is believed to be able to carry a nuclear warhead and can fly farther and for longer periods than other missiles because of its nuclear propulsion, the AP reported. Putin first mentioned the weapon in 2018.
President Biden is preparing a “major speech” on Ukraine, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. Biden has acknowledged concern that disarray in Congress in the wake of the ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from the House speakership could impede future U.S. aid to Ukraine, telling reporters earlier this week: “It does worry me.”
Hand grenade fragments were found in the bodies of Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin and his deputies, who died in a plane crash in August, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in remarks Thursday, citing the results of a Russian investigation. The wreckage showed no “external impact” on the aircraft, he said, in an apparent denial that the Kremlin had ordered the outspoken mercenary leader’s plane shot down. Western analysts say Putin probably ordered Prigozhin’s death.
Slovakia’s outgoing government will not provide additional weapons to Ukraine, said Ludovit Odor, the country’s prime minister, according to Slovakia’s Tasr news agency. The announcement came days after the party of a populist, pro-Russian politician, Robert Fico, came out on top in a parliamentary election. Fico has said he would seek to continue humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Moldova’s pro-Western president said the Wagner Group was seeking to mount a coup against her. “The information that we have is that it was a plan prepared by [Prigozhin’s] team,” Maia Sandu said in an interview with the Financial Times published Friday. The Post previously reported on a trove of documents that showed how Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) had funneled tens of millions of dollars into the country to cultivate a network of politicians who would be more favorable to Russia.
As U.S. support for Ukraine wobbles, European Union takes up membership question: Even in the best of times, expanding the E.U. to include Ukraine and others would be a costly, complex and politically perilous process, report Emily Rauhala, Beatriz Ríos and Robyn Dixon. The war in Ukraine multiplies the difficulties. Joining the bloc takes years. Countries such as Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania and Bosnia have been in membership talks for years. Turkey, which applied to join in 1987, remains a candidate.
Over the past year, Ukraine has worked closely with E.U. officials to undertake reforms that would start to bring it in line with requirements. The E.U. will decide whether to open accession talks with Kyiv in December.
O’Grady and Galouchka reported from Hroza, Ukraine; Jeong from Seoul; and Bisset from London.