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Now there were the first reports about Kharkiv - a strike on the city, on an obvious civilian object: a shopping centre, a construction hypermarket. It was Saturday afternoon. One of the largest centres - there were many employees and visitors inside. Now the whole place is on fire. All the necessary services have arrived: The State Emergency Service of Ukraine, medical services, local authorities, police. Everyone is fighting for every life.

This attack on Kharkiv is another manifestation of Russian madness. There is no other way to describe it. Only madmen like Putin are capable of killing and terrorising people in such a vile manner. We already know that there are wounded and dead. My condolences to the families and friends. Everyone who has suffered will be provided with the necessary assistance.

When we tell the leaders of the world that Ukraine needs sufficient air defence protection, when we say that we need real determination to allow us to protect the lives of our people in the most effective way possible, so that Russian terrorists cannot even come close to our borders, we are talking about how to literally prevent such terrorist attacks. I thank the leaders who really support us, who really see that every decision to support Ukraine is a decision to protect and save lives.