Russian Strike on Ukrainian Aid Center Kills 42 as Rescuers Search Rubble, Police Say

The death toll from a Russian bombing of an aid distribution point in the village of Komyshuvakha in southeastern Ukraine has risen to 42, police said on Thursday. Reuters described the strike as one of the deadliest attacks on civilians this year.

Police in the Zaporizhzhia region said on the Telegram messaging app that up to 33 people remained buried under the rubble and that rescue work and efforts to identify the bodies were continuing. Ivan Fedorov, co-head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Defense Council, said on Wednesday that 59 people were missing.

Ukrainian officials said at least nine aerial bombs hit the village on Monday. The first bombs struck a former school that residents used to collect humanitarian aid, and later strikes hit a nearby shelter where people had taken cover, according to Ukrainian officials and the BBC.

Body-camera footage from a police officer killed in the attack, which Reuters verified, showed the moments before a second Russian strike hit the shelter where residents were hiding after a radio warning. The BBC reported that the footage shows residents moving into an underground shelter after the first strike, before another blast hit it.

One of the weapons was a three-ton glide bomb

Ukraine’s national police said the strikes included a three-ton FAB glide bomb, a weapon that defence intelligence websites say carries around 1.4 tons of explosives.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces first struck people seeking aid, then rescuers and police who arrived at the scene.

Russia says it hit military units

Russia’s Defence Ministry said the attack targeted Ukrainian military units around Komyshuvakha and two other settlements, and that up to 25 Ukrainian servicemen were killed. Moscow and Kyiv both deny deliberately targeting civilians.

Reporting based on coverage by Reuters and the BBC.