The death toll from a Russian missile strike in eastern Ukraine has risen to 52 after another victim died overnight in hospital, a regional governor has said.
A missile slammed into a café and grocery store in the village of Hroza in the eastern region of Kharkiv yesterday as people gathered to mourn a fallen Ukrainian soldier.
"52 people died as a result of this missile attack. One person died in a medical facility," Oleh Synehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region, told Ukrainian television.
"People are still there (in hospitals). The injuries are quite serious," he said.
Mr Synehubov said rescuers were still working at the scene of the attack.
Three days of mourning was announced in the Kharkiv region after the deadliest attack there since Russia's invasion more than 19 months ago.
It was also one of the biggest civilian death tolls in any single Russian strike.
Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians, but many have been killed in attacks that have hit residential areas as well as energy, defence, port, grain and other facilities.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin, writing on X, he said: "Horrified by the deaths of over 50 civilians, including children, from the missile strike in Kupiansk.
"Intentionally directing attacks against civilians is a war crime. Ireland continues to work for accountability for all international crimes arising from Russia's aggression in Ukraine."
A separate missile strike by Russian forces hit residential buildings in the eastern region of Kharkiv this morning, killing a ten-year-old boy and injuring 23, including an 11-month-old baby, Ukraine's interior minister said.
"Another targeted attack by Russia on civilians. The body of a ten-year-old child was found under the ruins. Another 16 people were injured," Igor Klymenko said in a statement.
Yesterday's attack has seen international condemnation, with the White House saying it underscored the need to keep supporting Kyiv against Russia.
"It is incredibly horrifying for the people of Ukraine," Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told a briefing.
"This is why we're doing everything that we can to help Ukraine."
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack was "no blind strike" and Russian troops could not have been unaware of where they were striking.
"A deliberate missile strike on a village in Kharkiv region on an ordinary store and café," Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address, delivered while attending a summit of the European Political Community in Spain.
The attack was the deadliest in the Kharkiv region since Russia's invasion more than 19 months ago, a regional official told public broadcaster Suspilne.
In the early hours of this morning, Russian drones also attacked port infrastructure in Ukraine's Odesa region, damaging a grain silo in the Izmail district, regional governor Oleh Kiper said.
Nine trucks caught fire at the site, he wrote on the Telegram messaging app, adding that the fire has since been putout. There were no casualties, Mr Kiper said.
In the latest strikes, Ukrainian air defences shot down 25 of 33 drones launched by Russia from the annexed Crimea peninsular, the air force said in a statement.
The drone strikes targeted Odesa and Mykolaiv regions in the south, Dnipropetrovsk region in the southeast, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr regions in the centre and also Kharkiv region in the northeast, the air force said on Telegram.
Moscow said today that it had destroyed eight Ukrainian drones in western Russia.
The Russian defence ministry said the attempted drone attacks on Belgorod and Kursk took place late yesterday.
"Kyiv regime's attempt to carry out a terrorist attack by an aircraft-type UAV on objects on the territory of the Russian Federation was thwarted," it said on Telegram.
It said one drone was destroyed over Kursk at around 8.30pm local time (6.30pm Irish time) and seven were shot down over Belgorod and the surrounding region a few hours later.
Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov initially spoke of six drone strikes in his region, saying on Telegram that "according to preliminary data, no victims".
"Operational services are clarifying information about the consequences on the ground," he wrote.
Since Ukraine launched its counter-offensive in June, Russia has weathered waves of drone attacks that have sporadically damaged buildings, including in Moscow.
Russian officials have downplayed their significance.
Large piles of bricks and shattered metal and building materials remained where the cafe and shop were hit in Hroza village early yesterday afternoon.
The village of 330 people is around 30km from the frontline town of Kupiansk, an area Russian forces have been pushing to recapture after they lost territory to Ukrainian troops last year.
Denise Brown, Ukraine coordinator for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), also condemned the Russian strike.
Ms Brown said she was "appalled", adding that the images from the scene of the strike were "absolutely horrifying".
"Intentionally directing an attack against civilians or civilian objects is a war crime," she said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the leadership of Russia's parliament will consider revoking the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) at its earliest meeting, parliament speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said.
Mr Volodin's comments came after President Vladimir Putin on Thursday held out the possibility that Russia could resume nuclear testing and pointed out that the US Senate was yet to ratify the CTBT.
