Russian aerial bomb kills at least 25 civilians in rural Ukrainian village, government says

By Daria Tarasova-Markina, Lauren Kent, Ivana Kottasová, CNN

Kyiv, Ukraine (CNN) — A Russian aerial bomb attack on Tuesday killed at least 25 people and wounded 19 more in the rural Ukrainian village of Yarova in the eastern Donetsk region, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky described the airstrike as “brutally savage” and “directly on people. Ordinary civilians.” He added that “such Russian strikes must not be left without an appropriate response from the world.”

A video from the scene shared by Zelensky shows the horrific aftermath, with a number of lifeless bodies – wearing civilian clothing – lying on the ground. Some of the people in the footage appear to be older adults, and many look like they have suffered catastrophic injuries.

Zelensky said the victims were struck as pensions were being handed out in the village, which is only a few miles from the front lines. Pension payments are distributed, among others, by Ukraine’s postal service.

Remnants of a van, which appears to be a mobile branch of the postal service, can also be seen in the video from Yarova, with a children’s playground with two yellow slides visible in the background.

“The Russians attacked people while they were receiving their pensions. This is not warfare – this is pure terrorism,” said the head of the Donetsk regional military administration Vadym Filashkin, adding that rescue workers and medics are still on the scene.

The head of the local postal office branch was injured in the strike and taken to the hospital, according to the chief executive of the Ukrainian postal service, Igor Smelyansky. He said the service has constantly changed its security procedures to avoid targeted attacks, highlighting that the footage from the scene shows the van was parked under trees “to reduce the risk of being spotted.”

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the country expects “strong responses” from its allies following the bombing and called for further sanctions on Russia.

“Russian propaganda claims to be ‘saving’ people in the Donetsk region, but in reality, it is dropping massive air bombs on people who came to receive pensions,” Sybiha added.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has not commented on the attack, but Russian state media TASS cited a Telegram channel claiming that Russia did not carry out the strike, without providing evidence.

The village of Yarova had a population of around 2,800 people before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The village was occupied in June 2022 but Ukrainian forces reclaimed it later that year.

Across Ukraine, seven people have been killed and at least 22 injured within the last day. In the eastern Zaporizhzhia region, one woman died and another was wounded in a Russian attack, local authorities said early on Tuesday. Six people were killed and 10 were injured in a separate attack on the Donetsk region on Monday, Filashkin said earlier.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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