Ukrainian Village is Shaken as One in Ten Residents Killed by a Single Russian Missile

One out of every ten people in the village of Hroza in northeastern Ukraine was killed in a single blast Thursday as a hypersonic Russian missile slammed into a pale brick cafe where scores of residents had gathered to honor a member of the community who had been buried that morning. 

While Ukraine has suffered numerous mass-casualty attacks since Russia launched its war 589 days ago—a March 2022 strike on civilians inside a Mariupol theater killed an estimated 600—Thursday’s attack may be the most intimately damaging yet, officials said.

An estimated 60 people were packed inside the cafe and grocery that served as the village’s meeting place when the Iskander missile struck, killing 51 — more than ten percent of Hroza’s pre-war population of 500. 

Considering the likelihood that many residents fled after the war started, the percentage could be even higher. 

"In total, 300 residents of the village, one from each yard, attended the memorial service,"  Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko told reporters.

"From every family, from every household, there were people present at this commemoration," Klymenko said. "This is a terrible tragedy."

A 6-year-old boy was among the dead, officials said. Images posted by Ukrainian officials showed numerous bodies laid out in nearby fields and along a country road, some caked in cement dust.

Other bodies, officials said, were impossible to identify. 

Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov called the attack “the bloodiest crime committed by the Russians in the Kharkiv region since the start of the full-scale invasion.” He declared three days of mourning.

Of the seven people taken to regional hospitals, Syniehubov said six were women aged 50 or older and one was a 55-year-old man. Two were in serious condition, he said on Telegram.
Hroza and the surrounding district, located in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, were seized by invading Russian forces early in the war and recaptured by Ukraine in September 2022.

"There were no military targets there,” the Ukrainian military said in a statement. “This is a heinous crime intended to scare Ukrainians."