Ukrainian Villagers Weep as They Bury Victims of Hroza Missile Strike

 An aerial picture shows freshly dug graves at the cemetery in the village of Hroza, near Kharkiv, where at least 52 people were killed in a missile attack amid Russia's ongoing attack on Ukraine, October 8, 2023. (Reuters)
An aerial picture shows freshly dug graves at the cemetery in the village of Hroza, near Kharkiv, where at least 52 people were killed in a missile attack amid Russia's ongoing attack on Ukraine, October 8, 2023. (Reuters)
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Ukrainian Villagers Weep as They Bury Victims of Hroza Missile Strike

 An aerial picture shows freshly dug graves at the cemetery in the village of Hroza, near Kharkiv, where at least 52 people were killed in a missile attack amid Russia's ongoing attack on Ukraine, October 8, 2023. (Reuters)
An aerial picture shows freshly dug graves at the cemetery in the village of Hroza, near Kharkiv, where at least 52 people were killed in a missile attack amid Russia's ongoing attack on Ukraine, October 8, 2023. (Reuters)

Residents of the Ukrainian village of Hroza wept beside coffins on Monday as they buried relatives and neighbors killed in one of the deadliest attacks in nearly 20 months of war.

The small community has been devastated by Thursday's attack, in which Ukrainian officials said a Russian missile slammed into a cafe in Hroza as people gathered to mourn a fallen Ukrainian soldier.

A woman dressed in black cried over the closed coffin of villager Tetiana Kharbaka, 52, before several men lowered it into a freshly dug grave.

A blue and yellow Ukrainian flag flew over one grave. Mounds of earth stood beside other graves dug for victims who have taken longer to identify.

"As of this morning, 49 people had been identified with the help of external features and express DNA tests," a spokesperson for Kharkiv regional prosecutors was quoted as saying by Interfax Ukraine news agency.

After the DNA tests, 11 bodies were handed out to family members on Monday, a Reuters reporter on the scene said.

Andrii Bilous said his brother Vitalii, 44, had not required the DNA testing because his body was not mutilated in the attack. He said he would have been there with his brother on Thursday if he had not had to go to work.

"Our friend, who was also our former neighbor, was being re-buried. He used to live in Hroza, for many years," he said as he waited for his brother's body in a morgue in Kharkiv, the nearest big city to Hroza. "I was also going to go there but I had to go to work. Then a missile struck. I started calling Vitalii, but he didn’t pick up the phone."

Before the war, Hroza had a population of about 500 people. The village was seized by Moscow in the early days of the February 2022 invasion and recaptured by Kyiv the following September along with areas nearby.

A Kremlin spokesperson reiterated on Friday that Moscow does not attack civilian targets. A spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said "the indications are that it was a Russian missile."



Trump Says Will ‘Not Put up with’ Zelensky War Stance

US President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House in Washington, DC, US, February 28, 2025. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House in Washington, DC, US, February 28, 2025. (Reuters)
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Trump Says Will ‘Not Put up with’ Zelensky War Stance

US President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House in Washington, DC, US, February 28, 2025. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House in Washington, DC, US, February 28, 2025. (Reuters)

Donald Trump said Monday that Washington would "not put up with" Volodymyr Zelensky's rhetoric much longer, as the US president prepared to meet his top team after a disastrous Oval Office row with the Ukrainian.

"This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky, and America will not put up with it for much longer," Trump said on social media, citing a story quoting Ukraine's president saying the end of the war with Moscow was far off.

"This guy doesn't want there to be Peace as long as he has America's backing."

Trump also took aim at European leaders who met Zelensky for crisis talks in London at the weekend, saying that they had "stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the US."

"Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking," Trump said on his Truth Social network.

Trump's broadside came after a meeting between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Zelensky at the White House on Friday which descended into an extraordinary on-camera argument.

Trump and Vance raised their voices and accused Zelensky of being disrespectful and ungrateful for US military assistance, as the Ukrainian pushed his demand for US security guarantees as part of any truce.

Zelensky was then told to leave the White House, with a crucial deal giving Washington preferential access to Ukraine's mineral resources left unsigned.

Trump is now meeting his top advisors on Monday to discuss next steps on Ukraine, US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told reporters.

White House officials did not confirm a report by the news outlet Axios that Trump was considering cutting all military aid to Kyiv following the row.

European leaders, who have offered peacekeepers to guarantee any ceasefire but also want a US "backstop", met in London on Sunday in a desperate bid to resolve the row.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by telephone Monday with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy to discuss the leaders' meeting in London.

Rubio "confirmed the United States is ready to negotiate to end the Ukraine-Russia conflict and will continue working with the UK towards peace in Ukraine," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.