Ukraine Appeals For Peace After Deadly Russian Strike On Supermarket (Worthy News Radio)

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

KHARKIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has released a desperate video urging world leaders to attend a “peace summit” next month in Switzerland. He spoke after a deadly Russian attack on a supermarket in Kharkiv on Saturday killed at least 14 people and injured scores more.

Smoke rose from Kharkiv’s Epicentr K home improvement store on the city’s northern outskirts after the Russian strike.

Authorities said more than a dozen people were killed and injured in an attack condemned by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The city of Kharkiv has come under days of deadly attacks from Russian missiles, with strikes killing at least seven people on Thursday.

But President Zelenskyy suggested that the latest bombardment on the supermarket was especially brutal, saying his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was, in his words, responsible for “killing and terrorizing people in a vile way.”

Prosecutors feared the death toll could rise as a further 16 people remained missing after the strike at the supermarket.

In Kharkiv, eyewitness Julia told Vatican Radio that she saw a lot of people get hurt and that many lost their lives by the fire caused by the Russian bombardment.

DNA TESTS

The young mother of one said police were asking relatives to take DNA tests to identify those killed in the store.

Julia added she was especially concerned about the dozens being treated in hospital, including a 13-year-old boy who was operated on and listed in a serious condition.”

She said the city park was also “shelled” but added, “Luckily, there were no casualties in this beautiful park.”

However, she noticed that there is “not a single quiet day and that children now often study at underground metro stations.

And there was another reminder of how dangerous life has become above ground in Kharkiv as another early evening missile strike hit a residential building in the center, reportedly injuring at least 18 people.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy visited Kharkiv, where he recorded a video of a printing plant destroyed last week by a Russian strike, killing several people.

VIDEO APPEAL

In the video, he appealed to the U.S. president, Joe Biden, and the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, to attend a peace summit in Switzerland starting on June 15.

He told the leaders that, “We do not want the U.N. charter to be burned, burned down just as these books [where I am standing now]. And I hope you don’t want to either. Please show your leadership in advancing the peace, the real peace, not just a pause between strikes.”

“Please support the peace summit with your personal leadership and participation,” Zelenskyy added, speaking from the torched printing plant.

Biden has yet to confirm his attendance, and it is not known whether China will be there.

Yet time is running out as Russia’s military advances on the battlefields and approaches Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

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