After Russia launched a deadly attack on a DIY supermarket in Kharkiv on Saturday, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens more, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy released a desperate video calling for World leaders are attending a “peace summit” in Switzerland next month.
Zelensky specifically called on US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend the summit scheduled for June 15. “Please show your leadership in advancing peace – real peace, not just a pause between strikes,” Zelensky said in English.
Biden has not yet confirmed whether he will attend, and it is not known whether China will attend – Zelensky’s aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said in an interview last week that “negotiations are ongoing” about Beijing’s participation.
Saturday’s attack came at the end of a week in which Russia carried out daily missile and air strikes on Ukraine’s second-largest city, hitting targets including a printing factory, numerous residential areas and a central park. In most cases, there are no obvious military targets nearby.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said about 120 people were inside the hardware store on Saturday afternoon. “The attack was on a shopping mall and there were a lot of people there – it was clearly terrorism,” he said.
Prosecutors said at least 14 people died, 10 of whom have not yet been identified, and 43 others were injured. A further 16 people went missing after the strike. Another missile attack in the early evening hit a residential building in the city center, injuring 18 people, according to the local governor.
In recent weeks, Russia has been trying to make life miserable in Kharkiv, a city 20 miles from the Ukrainian border with a pre-war population of more than 1 million. Although urban life continues, deadly attacks have become a daily feature of life.
Because of the city’s proximity to the border, Russian fighter jets can launch glide bombs into the city center from within Russia. Ukrainian officials say improved air defense systems and F16 fighter jets are an important part of defending the city. The Kharkiv region has also been the focus of a new Russian offensive over the past two weeks, centered on the town of Vovchansk, causing thousands of residents to flee their homes.
Russia claimed that the attack on the Kharkiv region was aimed at establishing a “buffer zone” to prevent Ukrainian troops from launching attacks on Russia’s border areas.
Saturday’s strike targeted a popular suburban shopping center. Its director, Andriy Kudinov, told local media that the store was packed with shoppers buying items for their summer cottages.
Witnesses described panic-stricken scenes in the supermarket. “I was at my workplace. I heard the first impact and then… fell to the ground with my colleagues. The second attack happened and we were covered in debris. Then we started crawling to higher ground place,” Dmytro Syrotenko, 26, who had a large gash on his face, told Reuters.
The strike sparked a fire that sent large amounts of black smoke over the shopping center and firefighters rushed to put out the fire. Rescue efforts are extremely dangerous in such circumstances, and repeated attacks on first responders are a common feature of recent attacks in Russia.
Zelensky said on Sunday that this was further evidence that Russia was not interested in peace. “We all know who we are dealing with. Russia’s rulers want to make this the norm – war that burns lives, destroys cities and villages, divides people and eliminates national borders. No country can prevent such a war alone ,”He said.
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Zelensky said that more than 80 countries have confirmed their attendance at the Swiss summit. Russia was not invited and considered the event pointless. The aim appears not to be to develop a workable peace formula but to form a large coalition of countries calling on Moscow to end the war, especially against the many southern countries that have so far remained neutral.
Zelensky’s top aide Podolak said the Ukrainian president has been spending time calling numerous leaders in the Global South in an effort to persuade them to attend the summit, with a particular focus on Africa, Latin America and the Pacific.
“The Russians are doing everything they can to discredit the idea and offer incentives for people not to attend,” Podolak said, alluding to the diplomatic battle surrounding the summit.
While Ukrainian diplomats are working to persuade Beijing to participate in some form, China, which has tacitly supported Russia in the conflict, is considered unlikely to participate. China has outlined its own peace plan, but Ukrainian officials say the plan will not work.
“China’s plan is to either force Ukraine to surrender or freeze the conflict on Russia’s terms,” Podoljak said. “China is a key country [for us]because once you change its stance from neutral and disinterested to neutral but fair, then the pressure on Russia starts to rise,” he added.
In a report published on Friday, Reuters cited unidentified sources in Moscow as saying President Vladimir Putin was seeking a ceasefire. “Putin can fight for as long as he wants, but he is also prepared for a ceasefire to freeze the war,” one source said.
Ukrainian and many Western officials are skeptical of such claims, noting that without real security guarantees for Ukraine any attempt to freeze the conflict will be meaningless.
