The death toll from a Russian bombing of an aid distribution point in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region on Monday has risen to 42, police said on Thursday, making it one of the deadliest strikes on civilians this year.
Zaporizhzhia police said on the Telegram messaging app that up to 33 people remained buried beneath the rubble in the village of Komyshuvakha, and that rescue work and efforts to identify the bodies were continuing.
On Wednesday, Ivan Fedorov, co-head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Defense Council, had said 59 people were missing.
Bodycam footage from one of the police officers killed, which Reuters verified, showed the moments before a second Russian strike hit, destroying a shelter where residents were hiding after a radio warning.
Ukraine’s national police said the strikes included a 3-ton FAB glide bomb, a weapon that defence intelligence websites say carries around 1.4 tonnes of explosives.
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.
