Approximately 50 Ukrainian civilians were killed in a Russian strike that hit a grocery store in the eastern region of Kharkiv on Thursday.

Russian forces shelled a cafe and shop in the village of Hroza in the Kupiansk district shortly after 1 p.m., according to Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv region military administration. Syniehubov said 48 people were killed in the initial tally, including a 6-year-old boy, but that total has since increased to 51, according to Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. At least seven others were injured and are now receiving medical care while rescue operations remain ongoing.

THE RACE IS ON: WHO COULD REPLACE MCCARTHY AS SPEAKER?

"There may still be people under the rubble of the destroyed shop and cafe, so rescuers, police and local residents continue to sort through the rubble," Klymenko said. "29 people out of 49 dead have been identified. A mobile forensic laboratory works at the scene of the tragedy."

He later updated the death toll to 51.

The Hroza village the strike hit has a population of just over 300, Klymenko noted, meaning about 15% of the village was killed in the strike.

"A demonstrably brutal Russian crime — a rocket attack on an ordinary grocery store, a completely deliberate act of terrorism. Kupyansky District, Kharkiv Oblast. As of this time, more than 48 dead are known," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram. "My condolences to all those who have lost loved ones! Help is provided to the wounded. Russian terror must be stopped. All those who help Russia circumvent sanctions are criminals. Everyone who supports Russia until now supports evil. Russia needs this and similar terrorist attacks for only one thing: to make its genocidal aggression the new norm for the whole world."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

At least 9,614 civilians have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, while another 17,535 have been injured, according to data released by the United Nations last month. With each of its updates, the U.N. warns that its figures are likely "considerably higher" than reported due to the difficulty of obtaining this type of information in an active war zone.

The scale of the death toll is a level unseen since an attack on a railway in Kramatorsk in early 2022 that killed at least 50 people.