Russian forces bombed a school in the village of Komyshuvakha in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region on Monday, killing 24 people, according to Ukraine’s emergency services.
Two members of a rescue team were among those killed, emergency officials said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram that the school had been used to distribute humanitarian aid when Russian forces initially struck it with aerial bombs.
“After the first air strike, there was a repeat strike with nine more bombs, directly on the shelter where people were gathered,” Zelensky 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.”
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Komyshuvakha is located southeast of the regional capital, which is also named Zaporizhzhia.
Regina Kharchenko, secretary of the Zaporizhzhia City Council, said 27 people remained missing after the attack.
Police in the Zaporizhzhia region said officers and rescue crews were working to reach residents believed to be trapped beneath the rubble.
Images shared online showed smoldering debris scattered across the site.
The strike came one day after a six-day local ceasefire expired. The truce had been brokered by US first lady Melania Trump to allow aid deliveries to the besieged city of Oleshky, southwest of the village in the Kherson region, and to evacuate residents who wanted to leave.
