The death toll from a Russian bombing of an aid distribution point in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region on Monday has risen to 37, with dozens missing, in one of the deadliest strikes on civilians this year, officials said in a Reuters report republished by The Straits Times.
Ivan Fedorov, the co-head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Defense Council, wrote on Telegram that 59 people were missing. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russian forces first dropped aerial bombs on the school building in Komyshuvakha as people arrived to collect aid, then struck the shelter with more bombs. Two members of a rescue crew and four police officers were among the dead, emergency services said. Russia’s Defense Ministry said the attack targeted Ukrainian military units in Komyshuvakha and two other settlements, and that up to 25 Ukrainian servicemen were killed.