A RUSSIAN strike killed at least 51 people gathered for a wake in an eastern Ukrainian village Thursday, in what a UN official called a “horrifying” attack.
AFP journalists on the scene in the aftermath saw rescuers carrying a corpse from the rubble and several charred bodies in civilian clothes lying side by side, and others in white body bags.
The mourners were in a cafe and there were also victims in a shop in the same building in the village, which has a population of 330 people, in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.
Volodymyr Mukhovaty, 70, said he had lost his son in the attack and was still looking for his wife and daughter-in-law, who had attended the funeral reception.
“My son was just found without a head, without arms, without legs, without anything. They recognised him from his documents,” he told AFP.
He had “little hope” of seeing his daughter-in-law or wife again but was watching rescue workers from a distance in case they were found.
“I lived with my wife for 48 years,” he told AFP. “I will not last long alone.”
There were piles of body parts next to two children’s swings nearby while under floodlights, rescuers were still digging through the rubble of what was left of the cafe.
A six-year-old child was among the victims, said Interior Minister Igor Klymenko, who added that a total of 60 people had been attending a “memorial service for a deceased fellow villager.
Groza is located more than 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the frontline town of Kupiansk in an area where Russian forces have been pushing to recapture territory they lost to Ukrainian troops last year.
Klymenko said initial evidence showed an Iskander missile had been used.
