Newly released footage shows Ukrainian civilians rushing to what they believed was a safe bomb shelter—only for a devastating Russian strike to hit the refuge during Vladimir Putin’s brutal war.
Russian attacks caused power and water outages across Kyiv and surrounding areas for hours on Wednesday. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the death toll from a strike on a village in southern Ukraine had risen to 40, making it one of the region’s deadliest attacks in almost five years of war.
On Monday, several Russian guided bombs struck a former school and a nearby shelter in Komyshuvakha, a frontline village in the Zaporizhzhia region, as residents gathered to receive humanitarian aid.
The footage records the moments before the attack. Villagers can be seen moving through the wreckage of buildings already destroyed by Russian strikes.
An armed soldier speaks to the survivors and tells them to take cover. “Go down! Why are you gathering here?” he asks.
He then signals for them to enter a yellow building—one of the few structures still standing—before guiding them into the basement.
Inside, the group separates into two rooms. A police officer’s body camera, later found to belong to an officer killed in the blast, shows two men and a woman sitting in a brightly lit room.
Seconds later, the room is plunged into darkness as the bomb strikes.
Footage captures the moments before the bomb hit, showing villagers picking their way through the ruins of buildings that had already been devastated by strikes launched by Moscow
The group is beckoned into a yellow building, one of the last structures still standing in the area
The body camera of a police officer, who was killed in the blast, captures two men and a woman in a brightly lit room
Moments later, the room is plunged into darkness as the strike hits its target
Mr Zelensky said as many as 30 additional people could still be trapped beneath the rubble.
“Unfortunately, there has been very little reaction from the world to this insane attack,” Mr Zelensky wrote on X. “But it, like thousands upon thousands of other war crimes Russia has committed against Ukraine and Ukrainians, demands a strong response. Evil always goes further if it is left unanswered.”
Elsewhere, Moscow continued its aerial campaign with no apparent let-up.
Residents of Kyiv were directed to public drinking-water fountains, while emergency centres were rapidly opened in the worst-affected districts. The centres provided hot tea and electricity for people needing to charge their devices.
Kyiv’s water utility later said supplies had been restored. DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, also reported that emergency power restrictions in the capital had ended after repair work.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 310 drones overnight, including 81 jet-powered aircraft. In its daily social-media update, the force reported that 272 drones of various types had been shot down or suppressed.
Such attacks have become a regular part of life in wartime Ukraine, despite arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court in 2024 for two senior Russian officers accused by prosecutors of overseeing strikes against civilian infrastructure.
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Officials from the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Nato and the European Union were due to meet later on Wednesday at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels.
The talks were expected to address security guarantees for Ukraine after the war, the enormous reconstruction programme that will be needed and the various “economic opportunities” that peace could create.
Rescuers conduct search and rescue operation for those missing at a Ukrainian aid centre after bombing kills several people, according to officials, in Komyshuvakha, Zaporizhzhia Region, Ukraine
Emergency servicemen stand in the site of a Russian strike in the village of Komyshuvakha, Ukraine
The meeting was scheduled ahead of a fresh round of US-brokered peace negotiations next week, more than four and a half years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The death toll from Monday’s strike in Komyshuvakha rose to 37, according to Mykhailo Semikin, acting head of the regional military administration.
He said earlier that Russian drones were making the search more dangerous, but insisted rescue operations would continue.
Ivan Fedorov, co-chair of the regional defence council, said 12 bodies recovered from the rubble had so far been identified.
Ukraine’s National Police said in a Telegram post that some victims could not be identified visually. Specialists were working with relatives to obtain DNA samples, it added.
Baptist pastor Vladyslav Makhovskyi joined the search for survivors on Tuesday. As the hours passed, however, bodies wrapped in white plastic were brought from the ruins and placed in rows while smoke spread across the devastated site.
“When the bombs hit, people could no longer get out,” Mr Makhovskyi said. “I understand that many were killed immediately. Even if some were still alive, they probably couldn’t breathe.”
The strike came after a six-day ceasefire ended in Oleshky, a Russian-occupied city in Ukraine’s southwestern Kherson region. The truce was the most significant pause in fighting between Kyiv and Moscow since 2022 and enabled residents to be evacuated from the heavily damaged city.
A pedestrian walked past a damaged building following an overnight attack in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine
Mr Zelensky awarded US first lady Melania Trump the Order of Princess Olga, first class, an honour given to women who have made an outstanding contribution to the Ukrainian state.
According to the presidential website, she was recognised for humanitarian support, including human-rights and charitable initiatives focused on helping Ukrainian children.
She was also credited with helping broker the ceasefire that allowed people trapped in Oleshky to leave.
The Kremlin said it hoped US President Donald Trump would continue trying to end the war in Ukraine regardless of the outcome of the midterm elections, in which Democrats took control of Congress. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the comments.
Russia’s Defence Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces had shot down 709 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Ozon, a major Russian online retailer, said a drone attack sparked a fire at its logistics centre in Adygeysk, in Russia’s Adygea region. No casualties were reported.
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