A Russian strike on a crowded DIY hardware store in Kharkiv killed 14 people and wounded dozens more, Ukrainian prosecutors said on Sunday morning, the death toll rising as the country’s second-largest city reeled from two attacks a day earlier.

Two guided bombs hit the Epicentr DIY hypermarket in a residential area of the city on Saturday afternoon, Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on national television.

The strikes caused a massive fire which sent a column of thick, black smoke billowing hundreds of metres into the air.

Officials from Chile have met at the bottom of the planet in a bid to bolster claims in Antarctica as tensions escalate over Russian movement in the area.

Members of Chile‘s parliamentary defence committee flew to a desolate air base for a meeting billed as an assertion of national sovereignty.

Singling out Russia as posing such a threat, committee member Camila Flores said: “We are going to be sitting in Antarctica in an act of sovereignty, of safeguarding and supporting our national integrity in the face of any threats.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Sunday to join an upcoming peace summit as his country struggles to stave off unrelenting attacks by Russia in its 27-month-old invasion.

Moscow’s forces have in recent weeks advanced on the battlefield and stepped up air strikes on cities, and Kyiv hopes the June meeting in Switzerland will help pile international pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In English-language video recorded inside the charred remains of a printing press destroyed on Thursday in a Russian air strike, Zelensky said the summit would “show who in the world really wants to end the war”.

“I am appealing to the leaders of the world who are still aside from the global efforts of the Global Peace Summit to President Biden, the leader of the United States, and to President Xi, the leader of China,” he said.

“Please, show your leadership in advancing the peace, the real peace and not just a pause between the strikes.”

Askold Krushelnycky reports from Sumy, near the border with Russia. About three hours drive from the fierce battles around Kharkiv, the area is preparing for its own assault by Moscow’s troops:

Read more here:

Andriy Kudinov, director of the suburban shopping centre, told local media the hardware store in Kharkiv was full of shoppers buying items for their summer cottages when the attack happened.

It took 16 hours to fully extinguish the fire at the centre, which had raged over an area of 13,000 square metres (15,548 square yards), Interior Minister Klymenko said.

Rescuers, medics and journalists occasionally had to rush away from the scene of both strikes on the city and take cover on the ground, fearing another strike, as has occurred during several recent Russian attacks.

Dmytro Syrotenko, a 26-year-old employee of the DIY centre, described panicked scenes.

“I was at my workplace. I heard the first hit and ... with my colleague, we fell to the ground. There was the second hit and we were covered with debris. Then we started to crawl to the higher ground,” said Syrotenko, who had a large gash on his face.

Syrotenko told Reuters he was taken to safety by a rescue worker who helped him, several colleagues, and shoppers.

The past week has seen an uptick in strikes on the city after Russian troops stormed across the border, opening a new front north of the city.

Russia has bombarded Kharkiv, which lies less than 30 kilometres (20 miles) from its border, throughout the war, having reached its outskirts in a failed bid to capture it in 2022.

President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a plea to Ukraine‘s Western allies to help boost air defences to keep the country’s cities safe. French President Emmanuel Macron, writing on social media platform X, denounced the attack on the store as “unacceptable.”

A separate early evening missile strike hit a residential building in the centre of the city of 1.3 million. The number of people wounded by that strike had climbed to 25 by Sunday morning.

The missile left a crater several metres deep in the pavement at the foot of the building, which also housed a post office, a beauty salon and a cafe.

Emergency workers ushered away residents of nearby apartment buildings. Some of the injured had blood on their faces.

Just over the border, in Russia‘s Belgorod region, the regional governor said four residents died in Ukrainian attacks on Saturday.

A Russian strike on a crowded DIY hardware store in Kharkiv killed 12 people and wounded dozens more, Ukrainian prosecutors said on Sunday morning, the death toll rising as the country’s second-largest city reeled from two attacks a day earlier.

Two guided bombs hit the Epicentr DIY hypermarket in a residential area of the city on Saturday afternoon, Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on national television.

The strikes caused a massive fire which sent a column of thick, black smoke billowing hundreds of metres into the air.

Forty-three people were injured, the local prosecutors’ office said, adding that ten of the twelve dead had still not been identified.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said about 120 people had been in the hardware store when the bombs struck.

“The attack targeted the shopping centre, where there were many people - this is clearly terrorism,” Terekhov said.

In a post on the Telegram app, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said 16 people were still missing after

Ukrainian forces destroyed 12 missiles and all 31 drones launched by Russia during its latest overnight air strike, Ukraine's air force said on Sunday.

Two hypersonic Kinzhal missiles remained unaccounted for, but authorities did not immediately provide details of where they had struck.

The air force said the missiles and drones had been shot down over parts of southern, central, western and northern Ukraine.

At least six people were killed and nearly 60 were injured after a Russian missile struck Ukraine's Kharkiv, including two guided bombs that struck a hardware store in the city’s residential area.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said about 120 people were in the hardware store when the bombs struck.

"The attack targeted the shopping center where there were many people. This is clearly terrorism," Mr Terekhov said.

Hungary will seek to opt out of any NATO operations aimed at supporting Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Friday, suggesting that the military alliance and the European Union were moving toward a more direct conflict with Russia.

Orbán told state radio that Hungary opposes a plan NATO is weighing to provide more predictable military support to Ukraine in coming years to repel Moscow’s full-scale invasion, as better armed Russian troops assert control on the battlefield.