Russians queue outside H&M amid final chance to shop at fashion retailer
Russian shoppers have queued outside H&M stores this week when the fashion brand reopened its stores ahead of a final exit from the Russian market.
H&M, a Swedish brand, was among a number of companies that suspended operations in Russia after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February.
After pausing all sales in Russia, H&M said it was "deeply concerned about the tragic developments in Ukraine"- and that the situation was being "continuously monitored and evaluated".
On Wednesday, photographers captured long queues forming outside a H&M store in port city St Petersburg. According to reports, similar scenes occurred in other locations, including Russia's capital, Moscow.
In the ongoing war with Ukraine, powerful explosions rattled the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv on Thursday, and a city close to the country’s biggest nuclear power plant sustained a barrage of shelling.
At least four civilians were killed and 10 more wounded in 24 hours, with nine Ukrainian regions coming under fire, the office said in its daily update.
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The separatist-held eastern city of Donetsk also came under shelling, with Russian-backed local authorities saying that six people were killed. Kyiv said that two districts of Mykolaiv, which has been targeted frequently in recent weeks, were shelled. Russian forces reportedly fired 60 rockets at Nikopol, in the central Dnipropetrovsk region. Some 50 residential buildings were damaged in the city of 107,000 and some projectiles hit power lines, leaving city residents without electricity, according to Ukrainian authorities. Nikopol is located across the Dnieper river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which was taken over by Russian troops early in the war. Experts at the US-based Institute for the Study of War believe that Russia is shelling the area intentionally, “putting Ukraine in a difficult position.”