A Russian missile attack has hit a café and a grocery store in Ukraine, killing at least 51 people in one of the deadliest attacks of the war.

It occurred at around 1PM in the village of Hroza, about 80km south east of the city of Kharkiv.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed the Russian strike was a deliberate and criminal act.

“A demonstrably brutal Russian crime – a rocket attack on an ordinary grocery store, a completely deliberate act of terrorism,” he said on the Telegram messaging app. “Russia needs this and similar terrorist attacks for only one thing: to make its genocidal aggression the new norm for the whole world.”

The attack has one of the biggest civilian death tolls since Ukraine was invaded by Russia in February 2022. It also has the highest death toll and injuries in the Kharkiv region since the invasion began.

Ukraine regional Governor Oleh Synehubov said on national television that the village only had a population of 330 people.

“In fact, one-fifth of this village has died in a single terrorist attack,” he said.

Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov referred to Russia simply as terrorists when he addressed the public.

“The terrorists deliberately carried out the attack during lunchtime, to ensure a maximum number of casualties,” he said. “There were no military targets there. This is a heinous crime intended to scare Ukrainians.”

Russian officials have yet to comment on the accusations from Ukrainian government officials.

Photo: Kharkiv by Mykhailo Liapin available HERE and used under a Creative Commons License. This image has not been modified.