A 13-year-old boy was killed by Russian shelling while waiting for the bus in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Wednesday, officials have said.
Heartbreaking images from the aftermath of the attack show the young boy's father sitting on the ground crying while holding the lifeless hand.
Dmytro is one of the latest victims of the brutal shelling and missile attacks by Russia which show no signs of abating, with the Kremlin announcing yesterday that they are seeking to expand their war aims.
Dmytro's sister, Ksenia, 15, was also taken to hospital in grave condition, local authorities reported.
Oleh Synehubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, said three people had been killed in Kharkiv on Wednesday.
That included the young boy and an elderly man and a woman, but it was not clear whether all three died at the bus stop.
He did not give their names but said on the Telegram social media app: "This is another terrible act of terror by the Russians."
In a separate Telegram post, the local prosecutor's office said it believed the rockets were fired from an Uragan multiple rocket launcher.
The huge blast also severely struck a mosque, a medical facility and a shopping area, according to officials and witnesses at the scene.
The bombardment came after Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, reiterated the Kremlin's plans to seize territories beyond eastern Ukraine, where they had been more recently focusing their efforts.
He said to Russian state TV on Wednesday that their "geographical tasks will be pushed even further from the current line because we cannot allow the part of Ukraine under control of [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy."
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the Russians are targeting peaceful residential areas and urged civilians to lay low and be careful.
The teenager’s father spent about two hours by his son’s body at the site of the shelling, reading a prayer before authorities carried him away in a body bag.
Dmytro and his sister were on their way to a local ball dancing class and were described as good students.
“They are such hard-working kids. Their parents have been very supportive of them,” Olha Lisnyak, their dance teacher, told Kharkiv’s Public Television.
