Ukraine updates: Russian attack kills dozens in Kharkiv

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says Berlin will "do everything possible" to help Ukraine defend itself.

Reacting to the news of a Russian missile attack killing more than 50 civilians in the Kharkiv village of Hroza, Baerbock wrote on X, formerly Twitter, "As long as bombs rain down on supermarkets and cafes, we will do everything to help Ukraine protect itself from Putin's missile terror." 

She said assistance would continue until Ukrainians could live "daily life without fear and death."

Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday promised to supply another US-made Patriot air-defense system to Kyiv after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Granada, Spain.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian strike that killed at least 51 people in the village of Hroza was not a case of accidental targeting. 

"A deliberate missile strike on a village in Kharkiv region on an ordinary store and cafe," the Ukrainian leader said in his nightly video address. "Russian troops could not have been unaware of where they were hitting. This was no blind strike."

In a wide-ranging speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin said pieces of a hand grenade were found in the bodies of people on Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's plane, which crashed in August. 

"Fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of those killed in the crash," Putin told a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Putin said those investigating the crash found no indication the plane suffered an "external impact." Adding that the investigation is still ongoing, the Russian leader did not expand on what could have caused the crash. 

Prigozhin staged a short-lived rebellion in June that represented the most serious challenge to Putin, who has been in power for over two decades.

Exactly two months later, the plane carrying Prigozhin and his top lieutenants crashed while flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday said Berlin would deliver another US-made Patriot air-defense system to Kyiv for use in its ongoing fight against invading Russian troops.

Scholz, who made the promise to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a special European security summit in the Spanish city of Granada, said the hardware would be delivered by winter.

Scholz told reporters it was important to strengthen Ukraine's air defenses, saying that is, "what is most needed now." 

Zelenskyy was in agreement, saying his country expected Russia to once again target key infrastructure during the winter to rob Ukrainians of heat and electricity. 

"I'm grateful for Germany's support in defending our freedom and people. This is also the defense of Europe and our shared values," Zelenskyy wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after meeting Scholz.

So far, Germany has provided Ukraine with three Patriot systems, the US and the Netherlands have each given one. 

Scholz made the announcement at a time when he is under fire at home — both from the opposition as well as from within his governing coalition — for refusing to oblige repeated Ukrainian requests for Swedish-German-made Taurus cruise missiles. 

The Taurus has a range of over 500 kilometers (300 miles) and features a dual-stage warhead capable of penetrating and destroying hardened targets. The debate is just the latest revolving around Scholz's hesitancy to supply arms to Ukraine.

The European Union promised its continued support to Ukraine at a summit, but leaders warned the bloc would not be able to fully fill a funding gap left by the United States.

Political uncertainty in Washington, brought about by Republican Party infighting that has brought one house of Congress to a halt, prompted US President Joe Biden to admit it "does worry me" that US support for Ukraine could dry up.

"Can Europe fill the gap left by the US? Well, certainly Europe cannot replace the US," the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said at the European Political Community (EPC) in Spain.

The European Union and its member countries have promised more than $100 billion in multi-year support to Ukraine, including financing weapon deliveries.

The United States has committed $43 billion in military assistance, while Congress has approved $113 billion in aid including humanitarian help.

But additional US funding for Ukraine has been put on hold following a revolt by right-wing Republicans against their own party that led to a 45-day budget that kept the US government from a shutdown but did not earmark any spending for aid to Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin repeated Moscow's claims that it did not start the war in Ukraine in his annual speech to the Valdai Discussion Club.

"I have said more than once that we did not start the so-called war in Ukraine," he said. "On the contrary, we are trying to end it."

Putin said Moscow had no need to take territory from Ukraine, citing the fact that Russia is the largest country in the world by area.

Russia's president accused Western countries of losing "their sense of reality" and exercising arbitrary power as a global "hegemon."

"Everyone realizes that in an international system where arbitrariness reigns ... anyone can be under attack simply for the reason that this or that country was not liked by the hegemon," he said. "Unfortunately, we have to admit that our counterparties in the West have lost their sense of reality.

"The West always needs an enemy," he asserted, calling "bloc approaches" a "vicious legacy of the 20th century" and a "product of Western political culture."

Putin said he was confident a "multi-polar" world would be established and stressed that Russia is ready to cooperate with countries seeking peace and prosperity.

"We are tasked, essentially, with building a new world," he said.

Putin said the West had ignored Moscow's security proposals and claimed that he had suggested Russia join the NATO military alliance. He accused the US of "arrogance" and "colonial thinking."

Russia's president said Europe could only help Ukraine at the expense of its own economy and people, claiming that many industries are moving from Europe to the United States.

He said Russia's own economy was going through "structural changes." He added that Russia's economy was facing problems, including labor shortages, and that the government and central bank would take appropriate measures.

A Russian missile hit a food shop in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv and killed at least 48 people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app. The death toll was later increased to at least 50 people.

"The brutal Russian crime of hitting an ordinary grocery store with a rocket is a completely deliberate terrorist attack," Zelensky added.

It is one of the deadliest strikes in recent months that came as Zelenskyy attended a summit of European leaders in Spain to drum up support from the country's allies.

Kharkiv regional Governor Oleh Synehubov said a cafe and a shop was hit in the Russian shelling. Many civilians had been there at the time.

"Rescuers are working on the scene," he said, adding that a 6-year-old boy was among the dead. 

Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said people had gathered at the shop to hold a wake for a fellow villager who had died, according to a report in the Interfax Ukraine news agency.

Germany has no current plans to send Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, despite repeated urging from Kyiv, German media reported.

The reports, published by public broadcaster ARD and the mass-circulation Bild newspaper, have prompted criticism from opposition parties.

According to the reports, German government officials recently voiced concerns that the Taurus missiles could be used to target the Kerch Bridge linking Russia to Crimea — the territory annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz also reportedly told a closed-door meeting of parliament's foreign affairs committee that the Taurus missiles were not comparable to cruise missiles provided by the UK and France.

Both countries are providing target geodata themselves and are involved with their own personnel, Scholz told the committee.

The reports said Scholz voiced concerns about Germany providing geodata on targets, warning it could be problematic.

Germany has been hesitant to send the cruise missiles to Ukraine amid concerns they could potentially be used to target territory far into Russia — and not only Ukrainian areas annexed by Russian forces.

Ukraine has urged Berlin to provide the Taurus missiles, and is calling on other Western allies to help boost its air defense capabilities as winter approaches.

Early morning shelling on Thursday killed two people in the southern port city of Kherson, Ukraine's prosecutor general said.

Images posted by the prosecutor's office on Telegram appeared to show two bodies lying on the ground.

Prosecutors said that Russian artillery shelling targeted residential and non-residential areas in the center of Kherson.

They said that two civilians — a man and a woman — were killed.

Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff, said that one of those killed was a utility worker who trimmed trees in the city.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Thursday that he was taking part in talks with European leaders in Spain.

The Ukrainian president is joining leaders from dozens of other countries for the European Political Community Summit in Granada, Spain.

"Our joint goal is to ensure the security and stability of our common European home," he wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Security, with a particular focus on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, are among the top items on Thursday's agenda. 

"We will pay special attention to the Black Sea region as well as our joint efforts to strengthen global food security and freedom of navigation," he wrote.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko were not invited to the talks.

In recent days, civil defense exercises have been taking place across Russia that are aimed at preparing for a potential armed conflict, the British Defense Ministry said.

The exercises are based on a scenario of "large-scale international armed conflict," the ministry said in its daily intelligence update posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

The exercises have taken place every year since 2012 and are "unlikely to have been dramatically changed or expanded," according to the update.

During nationwide drills on Wednesday, which Russia marked as Civil Defense Day, sirens sounded across the country and TV stations aired emergency warnings.

Officials said the exercise is meant to simulate a nuclear attack on Russian soil. The drills specifically envision a scenario where all vital infrastructure has been destroyed and large areas are contaminated by radioactive fallout.

The annual drills come amid heightened tensions amid Russia's war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces took out several Russian drones that were launched overnight, military officials said on Thursday morning.

Ukraine's Air Force said it downed 24 Russian drones out of a total of 29 that were launched. 

The drones were launched over the central Kirohovrad region, as well as the southern Mykolaiv and Odesa regions.

While a majority of the drones were reportedly destroyed, one infrastructure facility was hit in the Kirohovrad region.

"The enemy continues its attempts to destroy the port and other infrastructure of the south, is terrorizing the central regions as well," Ukraine's southern command said.

DW could not independently verify the statements.

The US government says it has sent Ukraine over 1 million rounds of ammunition that had been seized from Iran last year.

The ammunition was originally seized by the US military in December 2022 on a ship in the Gulf of Oman, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) and the US Department of Justice said.

Iran was trying to send the nearly 1.1 million rounds to the Houthi rebels in Yemen, the Department of Justice said.

"The US is committed to working with our allies and partners to counter the flow of Iranian lethal aid in the region by all lawful means including US and UN sanctions and through interdictions," the statement from the Central Command said.

With this weapons transfer, actions against one authoritarian regime are now directly supporting the Ukrainian people's fight against another authoritarian regime, the Justice Department said. 

"We will continue to use every legal authority at our disposal to support Ukraine in their fight for freedom, democracy, and the rule of law," it added. 

Ukraine's troops have made some progress in their campaign southward amid a counteroffensive to retake areas captured by Russia, military officials said on Wednesday. 

"We have had partial success to the west of Robotyne," Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraine's southern group of forces, said on national television, noting that Kyiv's soldiers are "continuing to reinforce the positions they hold."

"In certain areas, we are advancing from 100 to 600 meters."

Ukraine's southward drive has been slower compared to its lightning gains in the northeast a year earlier. However, the country's forces have captured a string of villages, and officials say they are readying themselves around Robotyne and other villages for more advances.

In its evening report, the General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces said that its soldiers had repelled Russian attacks near Robotyne and Verbove.

Russia could target civilian shipping in the Black Sea by using sea mines — including by laying them on approaches to Ukrainian ports, the UK government has warned. 

Citing declassified intelligence, it said there was a risk of attack to cargo ships with Ukrainian exports passing through a "humanitarian corridor" recently set up by Kyiv.

"Russia almost certainly wants to avoid openly sinking civilian ships, instead falsely laying blame on Ukraine for any attacks against civilian vessels in the Black Sea," Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement.

"By releasing our assessment of this intelligence, the UK seeks to expose Russia's tactics to deter any such incident from occurring."

Last month, Britain said that Moscow's forces had targeted a civilian cargo ship in the region with "multiple missiles," adding  that they were successfully thwarted by air defenses.

"Russia's pernicious targeting of civilian shipping in the Black Sea demonstrates [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's total disregard for civilian lives and the needs of the world's most vulnerable," Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said. 

"The world is watching — and we see right through Russia's cynical attempts to lay blame on Ukraine for their attacks," he added.

In July, Moscow withdrew from a deal that had allowed Ukraine to safely ship food products out through what was traditionally its main export route in the Black Sea.

Kyiv, in response, set up a temporary "humanitarian corridor" for cargo vessels. 

dvv/nm (AFP, Reuters, dpa)