Zelensky: Attack on DIY store in Kharkiv shows Russia’s ‘madness’

The deadly attack by the Russian military on a DIY store in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Saturday is “another manifestation of Russian madness,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“Only madmen like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin are capable of killing and terrorizing people in such a heinous way,” the Ukrainian leader said in his daily video address on Saturday evening.

At least two people were killed and 33 were injured in the attack, according to the regional civil defence department.

Firefighting crews continued to fight their way into the destroyed building. Zelensky said around 200 people were in the Epicentr home improvement store at the time of the attack.

Zelensky once again appealed to Ukraine’s supporters for more air defence systems.

While he acknowledged that another Russian Su-25 fighter jet was shot down in the east of the country on Saturday, he said if Ukraine “had more adequate, more modern air defence systems and aircraft, the Russian air force would of course have collapsed long ago, just like its Black Sea fleet.”