Russia-Ukraine war live: US condemns ‘horrifying’ attack on Kharkiv village; EU leaders to discuss Ukraine membership | Russia

The Associated Press: A day after pledging the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, their unwavering support, EU leaders on Friday will face one of their worst political headaches on a key commitment – how and when to welcome debt-laden and battered Ukraine into the bloc.

The 27-nation EU has said since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022 that at the end of the war it would work steadfastly on “lasting unity” that would eventually translate into Ukraine’s membership in the wealthy bloc.

For a nation fighting for its very survival, that moment cannot come quickly enough. For the bloc itself, that remains to be seen.

On Friday, the leaders will assess “enlargement” as they call it at their informal summit in southern Spain’s Granada. Beyond Ukraine, several western Balkan nations and Moldova are also knocking with increasing impatience at the door.

In his summit invitation letter, the EU council president, Charles Michel, asked the leaders “critical questions, such as: What do we do together? How do we decide? How do we match our means with our ambitions?”

That has already proven difficult enough for the current members, especially with decades-old rules still on the books that were thought out for a dozen closely knit nations. At the time, deciding by unanimity and veto rights were still considered workable procedures, and money was still relatively easy to come by.

The White House has condemned the attack on a cafe and grocery store in Ukraine’s Hroza village that killed 51 people as “horrifying”, while the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said the strike “demonstrated the depths of depravity Russian forces are willing to sink to”, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.

In a briefing before the death toll rose, the White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “Let’s stop and think about what we’re seeing: 49 innocent people who were killed by a Russian airstrike while they were shopping for food at a supermarket. That’s what they were doing.

“Can you imagine just walking to the grocery store with your kids, trying to figure out what is it that you’re going to make for dinner, and you see an explosion happen where bodies are everywhere. And it’s horrifying.

“This is why we’re doing everything that we can to help Ukraine, to help the brave people of Ukraine to fight for their freedom, for … to fight for their democracy,” she added.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Helen Sullivan with the latest.

Our top stories this morning: The discussions come as Ukraine faced of its deadliest attacks of the war on Thursday. The White House has condemned the attack on a cafe and grocery store in Ukraine’s Hroza village that killed 51 people, as “horrifying”, while British prime minister Rishi Sunak said the strike “demonstrated the depths of depravity Russian forces are willing to sink to”, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.

The attack was the deadliest in Kharkiv region since Russia’s invasion more than 19 months ago, a regional official told public broadcaster Suspilne. It also appeared to be one of the biggest civilian death tolls in any single Russian strike.

And European Union leaders will discuss how and when to welcome debt-laden and war-battered Ukraine into the bloc, the Associated Press reports, as they meet for the second day of an informal summit in Granada, Spain.

In other key recent developments:

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, accused Russia of “genocidal aggression” after the attack. He described it as “a demonstrably brutal Russian crime – a rocket attack on an ordinary grocery store, a completely deliberate act of terrorism”, later saying it was “no blind strike”.

• European leaders rallied around the Ukrainian president in the face of US jitters over defence funding. The gathering at the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Granada, Spain, gave leaders including the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, a chance to restate their commitment to Ukraine after political turbulence in the US and Europe raised questions about continued support.

• Germany will “do everything possible” so that Ukraine can protect itself from Russian missiles, foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said Thursday after Moscow’s latest deadly strike in Ukraine. “More than 50 people dead in Hrosa,” she posted on X, formerly Twitter. “As long as bombs hail on supermarkets and cafes, we do everything for Ukraine to protect itself from Putin’s missile terror.”

• The Biden administration is considering using a US State Department grant program to send additional military aid to Ukraine, Politico reported on Thursday citing two US officials with knowledge of the discussions.

• Slovakia will not send more military aid to Ukraine for now, prime minister Ľudovít Ódor said. Instead, the decision will be delayed until a new government is formed following last week’s election, which saw a victory for Robert Fico, a populist, pro-Russian three-time former prime minister who campaigned on a promise to end military aid to Ukraine.

• The US president, Joe Biden, wants to give a “major” speech on support for Ukraine, the White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, without specifying when that would happen. She described the Hroza missile attack as “horrifying”.

• Vladimir Putin ramped up his nuclear rhetoric, saying his country had successfully tested the nuclear-powered, nuclear-capable Burevestnik strategic cruise missile, as he suggested Russia could resume nuclear testing for the first time in more than three decades.

• Putin also suggested that the plane crash that killed Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in August was caused by hand grenades detonating inside the aircraft, not by a missile attack. “Fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of those killed in the crash. There was no external impact on the plane – this is already an established fact,” he said.