Local residents identify themselves among the bodies scattered after they were killed in a Russian missile attack in Hroza, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, on October 5, 023. A Russian missile attack on a memorial café in Hroza killed 51 people.

Local residents identify themselves among the bodies scattered after they were killed in a Russian missile attack in Hroza, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, on October 5, 2023. A Russian missile attack on a memorial café in Hroza killed 51 people.

　A Russian military missile struck a cafe and grocery store in the northeastern Ukrainian village of Hroza, reducing the building to rubble and killing 51 people during a memorial service on the afternoon of October 5, 2023, where bricks, shattered metal, and building materials piled up at the site of the attack on the cafe and grocery store in Hroza village, Kharkov Oblast ... The missile attack caused the most extensive damage in Kharkov Oblast since the Russian invasion. It was one of the largest civilian casualties in a single attack by Russian forces. It was occupied by Russian forces in the early stages of the invasion, but was recaptured by Ukrainian forces in September 2022. Before the Russians launched their invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, about 330 people lived in the settlement of Hiroza, compared to about 500 in Hiroza, and one-fifth of the village of Hiroza was killed in a single missile strike.

　Families remained in Hiroza under evacuation orders during the Russian invasion, and children were among the victims. Hroza is located about 30 km west of Kupiansk, which was recaptured by Ukrainian forces at the end of 2022, and is quite close to the front lines of the war. Paramedics made their way through piles of rubble and scattered bodies side by side in a field adjacent to a children's playground. Some were carried away in white body bags. Some bodies were barely covered by carpets and other materials, with hands sticking out awkwardly. The emergency services public information office announced that the search for survivors was over and that the death toll was 51 dead, 6 injured, and 3 missing. Among the dead was a six-year-old boy. The son of a soldier (also a soldier), who was being buried, was also killed in the attack, along with his son's wife and mother.

　At the time the missile fell and exploded, about 60 of the local Hiroza residents were eating at a memorial service followed by a service for the fallen soldiers. The attack was targeted by a Russian Iskander ballistic missile. Russian military officials did not immediately comment on the Froza missile attack, denying any intentional killing of civilians. Many were killed in Russian military attacks on residential areas and energy, defense, port, grain, and other facilities in Ukraine.

Warning: A local resident tries to identify bodies in Hroza, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine October 5 2023. Picture: SOFIA GATILOVA/REUTERS