A shocking Russian missile attack on a village market in eastern Ukraine this morning left two women dead and several others injured, including a 10-year-old girl, Daily Mail understands.
Harrowing footage from the scene of the strike in Shevchenkove, 50 miles southeast of the regional capital Kharkiv, showed a square littered with debris as rescue workers hurriedly picked their way through the ruins in search of survivors.
One blood-covered woman was seen lying prone amid the rubble waiting for help, with rescuers having placed a dirt-covered cushion under her head as they tended to more serious cases.
Moments later other rescuers were seen moving what appeared to be a corpse before an injured child was carried out of the rubble, crimson smeared across her face.
A photograph posted online by the Ukrainian president’s office showed rescuers trying to pull a woman in a thick winter coat out of the debris.
Her head and arms poked out from under the rubble but it was not clear whether she was alive.
Other footage posted by Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne on the Telegram messaging app showed burning wreckage and a large crater in the centre of Shevchenkove.
‘The Russian army committed another act of terror against the civilian population and a child was wounded, two women were killed,’ the regional prosecutor’s office said.
Criticising Russia over the attack, Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, wrote on Telegram: ‘Common terrorists.’
Oleh Synehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region, wrote on Telegram: ‘According to confirmed information, unfortunately a 60-year-old woman died.
‘Allother victims were hospitalised. Doctors are helping them. Rescuer workers continue to clear the debris.’
Suspilne quoted a local official as saying at least three pavilions were destroyed in the attack and that a shopping centre was damaged, but that Monday was not a market day.
The village succumbed to Russian occupation days after Vladimir Putin ordered his tanks over the border on February 24, 2022, but was liberated by Ukrainian forces in September.
