Russia strikes eastern Ukraine village, killing 24, many retirees
KYIV - Russian forces on Tuesday bombed a village in eastern Ukraine as retirees were collecting their pensions, killing at least 24, Ukrainian officials said, the latest deadly strike against civilians and two days after its largest aerial attack to date.
A glide bomb struck the village of Yarova in the Donetsk region, “just as a line of civilians gathered near the mobile post office to receive payments,” Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko wrote on Telegram.
Most of the people killed were elderly, Oleksandr Zhuravlyov, head of the nearby village of Lyman, said by telephone. Another 19 people were wounded, the country’s emergency services said.
“This is not a military action - this is pure terrorism,” Vadym Filashkin, head of the Donetsk regional administration, said in a statement.
The attack came as Ukrainian officials are pleading for more air defense support and weaponry to allow the country to protect itself against daily Russian attacks, which have killed hundreds of civilians.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video showing a site with scorched earth and strewn with bodies and called it a savage strike “directly on people. Ordinary civilians. At the moment when pensions were being issued.” He added that there needs to be a severe response from the United States, Europe and members of the Group of 20 nations.
“Such strikes by Russia must not remain without an appropriate reaction from the world,” Zelensky wrote. “The Russians continue to destroy lives but avoid new strong sanctions, new strong blows.”
“The world must not remain silent. The world must not remain inactive,” he said. “Strong actions are needed so that Russia stops bringing death.”
On Sunday in the early morning hours, Moscow unleashed its largest-ever air assault on Ukraine, launching more than 800 drones and 13 missiles and setting Kyiv’s main government building ablaze.
President Donald Trump said Sunday that he was ready to impose more sanctions on Russia - a promise he has made repeatedly but on which he has failed to follow through.
Since the beginning of June, Russia has attacked Ukrainian cities nightly, launching at times hundreds of attack drones and dozens of missiles, and killing hundreds of civilians.
A Washington Post analysis of data from the Ukrainian armed forces found that Moscow launched close to 12,000 drones and more than 400 cruise and ballistic missiles in June and July, killing some 518 civilians.
Frontline settlements in Ukraine’s east and south have been among the areas hit the hardest. In addition to using drones and missiles to attack the settlements, Russian forces have been launching deadly glide bombs from aircraft. The Soviet-era bombs, which can carry up to a half-ton of explosives, have been fitted with wings and guidance systems allowing them to fly long distances.