A missile strike on a mail depot belonging to Nova Poshta in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on October 21 killed six of the company’s workers and injured 17 more, the company said in a statement.

“On October 21, 2023, at night, russia committed a war crime against civilians and hit Nova Post’s innovative sorting terminal with two missiles in Kharkiv, Ukraine. The launch of two C300 missiles was executed from the Belgorod region, russia. It takes just 45 seconds for such a missile to reach its target. russia left our colleagues no chance to proceed to the shelter (which is only 50 metres away from the terminal), as the attack happened within a second of turning air raid sirens on,” the company said in an emailed statement to bne IntelliNews.

“Tragically, six of our employees were killed, and 16 have been injured. The company has announced a three-day mourning, keeps up-to-date, and provides medical, psychological, and financial support to each employee on that shift and to the families of the deceased,” Nova Poshta added.

The attack is believed to have been caused by a Russian S-300 rocket, according to Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov, AP reported.

All of the victims were employees of Nova Poshta, Ukraine’s leading postal and courier service. The air raid siren had reportedly sounded just moments before the strike, leaving those inside the depot with no time to reach shelter.

Video from the company’s CCTV shows workers going about their business in the warehouse until a sudden fierce explosion obliterates the view before returning a few moments later revealing a scene of devastation.

Kharkiv is in Ukraine’s east and right on the front-line. It has been a focal point of intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces from the start of the war.

“It’s important to understand that the Nova Post sorting terminal in Kharkiv is a totally civilian building. One sorts and sends humanitarian aid from charity foundations, food, clothes, medicine and necessities from there. People who live under constant shelling in the Kharkiv region and the eastern part of the country survive due to the parcels from their relatives and humanitarian funds delivered by Nova Post. Nova Post is a connection with what is left of a peaceful life,” the company said in the statement.

“Nova Post will rebuild the sorting terminal just like we have already done multiple times. The company will purchase new equipment, and reimburse the cost of burned parcels to recipients, but this won’t bring back our people and will not change the facts,” the company added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy characterised the strike as an attack on a "civilian object". He emphasised the need for a consistent response to Russian actions and called for global unity in the fight against terrorism.

“Terrorists represented by the russian federation destroyed a civilian object and should be punished as war criminals. Now the powerful russian propaganda machine is working to discredit the facts and reality, and they say that the sorting terminal of Nova Post was a military facility where military equipment and other types of weapons were stored,” Nova Poshta said.

Nova Poshta is one of Ukraine’s most successful firms and continues to expand in Central Europe despite the war. The company also provides a vital lifeline to civilians living in the war-torn cites of Ukraine,

“We arrive in the de-occupied territories just after Ukrainian troops,” explained co-owner of the Nova Post Group Vyacheslav Klymov in an exclusive interview with bne IntelliNews.