The death toll in a Russian attack on an aid distribution point in southeastern Ukraine has risen to 40, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday, with dozens still unaccounted for.
Russia on Monday dropped several bombs on a building where residents of the Komyshuvakha village in the southern Zaporizhzhia region received humanitarian aid every week.
Then, in what Ukraine said was a double-tap attack, Moscow hit an underground shelter with people inside.
“As of now, 40 people have been reported killed. Unfortunately, some bodies have not yet been identified,” Zelensky said on social media.
He had earlier called the attack one of the deadliest of the war launched by Moscow in February 2022.
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“More than 30 people may still be under the rubble,” Zelensky said. The wartime leader had on Tuesday said 33 people had been killed.
Ukrainian police have released bodycam footage of one of its four officers killed in the strike. The officer could be heard ushering people to an underground shelter as he receives a warning of incoming guided aerial bombs over the radio. People are then seen in the shelter before the explosion cuts to black and silence.
The UN’s human rights mission in Ukraine on Tuesday slammed the attack, saying the bombing likely violated international law.