DEFIANT leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy hit out at President Putin as the crazed dictator’s rockets flattened a Ukrainian city yesterday.

After the horrific bombardment targeting civilians in Kharkiv, ­distraught and angry President Zelenskyy warned Putin: “No one will forgive. No one will forget.”

A fireball engulfed the city hall as a rocket ripped through the landmark building, killing at least six people and injuring dozens more.

Shocking reports emerged last night of a family burning to death together after a Russian rocket hit their car.

President Zelenskyy accused Russia of “outright, undisguised terror” after the strike yesterday. He said Putin was “evil armed with rockets” and called for ­Russia’s financial destruction.

Footage showed the moment a ­suspected Grad rocket hit Kharkiv’s government building, sending bricks and mangled debris hundreds of feet into the air.

The blast tore a hole through the six-storey structure, blew out more than 70 windows and sent a mushroom cloud of thick black smoke billowing over the city of 1.4million people.

Trainee doctor Naveen Gyanagoudar, 22, was named as one of the dead.
The Indian student was studying at the National Medical University and “lost his life in shelling in Kharkiv” officials in Delhi confirmed.

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'Crimes against humanity'

Pals said he had left his underground bomb shelter on a mission to get food.

The country’s second city has been under constant attack since Putin invaded, but bombardments increased dramatically over the previous 48 hours.

Footage emerged yesterday of an ­enormous explosion thought to be an ammunition store being hit on the edge of the city. Medics were forced to move a maternity ward to a bomb shelter.

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Mothers had to go into labour with mattresses piled up against walls. Yesterday’s 8am blitz was seen as ­punishment after the city repelled two ground invasions. It followed a deadly bombardment on Monday which left at least nine dead and dozens injured. The death toll is expected to rise.

Footage of a strike on Sunday appeared to show banned cluster bombs erupting in civilian areas — which rights groups claimed could be a war crime.

In a separate attack north west of Kharkiv, human rights investigators said they had seen evidence of cluster bombs dropped on a pre-school which killed a child and two adults sheltering inside.

Russian forces have a shameful record of using cluster munitions in populated areas.

The charity said: “Russian forces have a shameful record of using cluster munitions in populated areas.”

Investigators Bellingcat have collected dozens of photographs of the remnants of cluster bomb missiles.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague said it was opening an investigation into “alleged crimes against humanity” and war crimes in Ukraine.

But many fear Russia’s armed forces will turn to even more drastic tactics after Putin blasted his generals for the slow pace of his conquest.

His defence minister, General Sergey Shoigu, accused Ukraine’s armed forces of hiding “multiple-launch rocket systems, guns and large-calibre mortars in the courtyards of residential buildings, near schools and kindergartens”.

The claim was seen as a warning Russia would target those places irrespective of the risk to civilian lives. There were reports last night that Kharkiv was almost surrounded by ­Russian forces. It is seen as a symbolic prize for Moscow — especially if Putin’s army is unable to seize Kyiv.

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