Image source, Reuters

As we've been reporting for the last hour or so, at least 51 people are now reported to have died following a Russian attack on a village near Kupyansk in the north-eastern Kharkiv region of Ukraine.

The initial lines came from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying at least 48 people had died

Later it was confirmed that a cafe in the village of Hroza had been hit.

Regional head of Kharkiv Oleh Synyehubov said a six-year-old boy was among the dead; and a six-year-old girl was wounded.

The latest came from the Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, telling the Ukrainian TV that seven people were in hospital after the attack.

"From every family, from every household, there were people present," he said, for a memorial service and more than 300 people were in the cafe when it was hit.

The death toll in the Hroza attack is now 51, according to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs Ihor Klymenko.

Writing on Telegram, he said "one of the wounded died while receiving medical aid", adding that "debris analysis is ongoing".

This latest Russian attack took place in the middle of the day on Thursday as Ukraine's president was meeting European leaders.

At that summit, the European Union's foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, warned political infighting was threatening the US' ability to fund the Ukrainian military.

A recent budget deal in the US Congress did not include funding for Ukraine.

Borrell said no European countries would be able to make up the gap left by any loss of American support.

"Can Europe fill the gap left by the US? Well, certainly Europe cannot replace the US," he said.

Today, Zelensky asked European leaders for more air defence missiles and said other countries could thank Ukraine for protecting them from Russian aggression.

Image source, EPA

A Russian Iskander missile was used in the Hroza attack that killed at least 50 people, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

"According to preliminary findings, the venue was hit by an Iskander," he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

The BBC is unable to independently verify Klymenko's claim.

Ukraine's defence ministry has responded to the deadly Hroza strike.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, it shared footage of emergency service personnel combing through the debris.

Describing the Russian military as "terrorists", it said they "deliberately carried out the attack during lunchtime, to ensure a maximum number of casualties".

Its statement continued: "There were no military targets there. This is a heinous crime intended to scare Ukrainians."

Image source, Reuters

The number killed in the attack is now up to 50, according to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs Ihor Klymenko.

The attack came just hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the Valdai Discussion Club - a Moscow-based think tank.

He reiterated his claim that the Ukraine war was started by Kyiv itself, supported by the West.

The war is in its 10th year and "the special military operation is aimed at stopping it", he told the conference in the southern city of Sochi.

Putin claims that as the world's largest country by area, Russia has no need to take territory from Ukraine.

"Durable peace will take hold when everyone feels secure", he adds, as he rails against the West which he claims has "lost its sense of reality".

Ukraine's interior minister, Ihor Klymenko said 300 people were at the cafe (which was originally reported to be a grocery shop) that was bombed.

He says people were attending a wake for a fellow villager who died, Interfax Ukraine reports.

"In total, 300 residents of the village, one from each yard, attended the memorial service," he said.

The latest number of people known to have died in the bombing is 49.

The attack on the village of Hroza, west of Kupyansk, is one of the deadliest attacks against civilians since the start of the war.

Ukraine says at least 49 people have died in the attack.

Let's take a look at some of the worst incidents since the full-scale Russian invasion began in February 2022:

• In March 2022, a theatre sheltering civilians in the besieged port city of Mariupol was bombed. There is no official number for the amount of lives lost but one official told the BBC that more than 300 were killed while the Associated Press estimated that the number could have been as high as 600, external
• An attack in July last year on Vinnytsia, south-west of the capital Kyiv, killed at least 23 people including three children
• In January, at least 40 people died when a Russian missile struck an apartment building in Dnipro
• More recently, a Russian attack on the eastern city of Kostyantynivka killed at least 17 people

Image source, Reuters

This is a fast-moving story and details are still coming in to us - but let's bring you up to speed with what we know so far:

• It is now being reported that at least 49 people have been killed in a missile strike, in the village of Hroza near Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region
• A six-year-old boy is among the dead, according to the local governor
• Several more have been injured - including a girl of six
• The village of Hroza was hit at 13:15 local time (10:15 GMT)
• Rescue workers are on the scene
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: "Russia needs this and similar terrorist attacks for only one thing: to make its genocidal aggression a new norm for the whole world"

Stick with us as we bring you further updates.

Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the president of Ukraine, says the number killed in the Hroza attack is now 49.

The Kharkiv region has been on the front line of clashes between Russian and Ukrainian armies since the beginning of the war in February 2022.

Kupyansk is in the east of the region, and was a major supply hub for Russian forces following the invasion.

In September last year, Kyiv said it had reclaimed some parts of Kharkiv region, after months of fighting.

Image source, .

Among the dead are a six-year-old boy, regional head of Kharkiv Oleg Sinegubov says.

Sinegubov added that a six-year-old girl was among the wounded.

The missile strike happened near Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region.

The village of Hroza was hit at 13:15 local time today (11:15 BST), say officials.

These pictures of the aftermath came from Ukraine's Presidential Office, via Reuters.

Image source, Presidential office

Image source, Presidential office

President Zelensky says a Russian strike in eastern Ukraine has killed at least 48 people.

Posting to Telegram, the Ukrainian president said Russia targeted a grocery store on Thursday.

He described the attack as a “brutal Russian crime”.

Stay here for live updates.