Nov 2 (Reuters) – Russian forces bombed a school in a village in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region on Monday, killing 24 people, Ukraine’s emergency services said.
The emergency services said two members of a rescue crew were among the dead in the village of Komyshuvakha.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, writing on Telegram, said Russian forces initially dropped aerial bombs on a school in the village, used for distributing humanitarian assistance.
“After the first air strike, there was a repeat strike with nine more bombs, directly on the shelter where people were gathered,” Zelenskiy wrote.
“The Russians could not have been unaware that every week residents who have remained in Komyshuvakha were receiving assistance right there. This is yet further proof that Russia does not want any kind of de-escalation, any real justice.”
The village lies southeast of the region’s main city, also called Zaporizhzhia.
Regina Kharchenko, secretary of the Zaporizhzhia City Council, said 27 people were missing in the attack.
Zaporizhzhia region police said its officers and rescue teams were trying to reach residents believed to be trapped under rubble.
Photographs posted online showed smouldering rubble strewn throughout the area.
The attack occurred a day after the expiry of a six-day local ceasefire brokered by US first lady Melania Trump to bring aid into the embattled city of Oleshky to the southwest in Kherson region and evacuate residents wishing to leave.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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