KIEV: At least 48 people were killed in a Russian military strike in eastern Ukraine on Thursday afternoon, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The strike happened near Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region - close to the frontlines in the Donabas region - and a grocery store in Hroza village was hit, Zelensky said on his Telegram account, sharing pictures of the area.

He termed the attack a “brutal" crime.