At least 31 dead after Russia drops nine bombs on a Ukrainian school building

Dozens of people were killed when Russia dropped at least nine bombs on a school building in southeastern Ukraine where they had taken shelter.

At least 31 people have been confirmed dead and another 48 are still unaccounted for after the attack on the building in Komyshuvakha in the Zaporizhzhia region, which was being used as a shelter and a humanitarian aid distribution center, local governor Mykhailo Semikin said.

They were in a newly-built, EU-funded reinforced basement designed to withstand most strikes, Semikin said, but the massive force of the bombs caused the concrete structure to collapse and a fire broke out.

The shelter was built last year in an effort to keep classes going during wartime, but many civilians have since left as the fighting got closer to the village, and it is not currently used as a school. Instead, local authorities are using it as an administrative center and humanitarian hub.

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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky described the strike as “utterly horrific.”

He said the attack came just before Russia launched another massive barrage of hundreds of drones and dozens of powerful cruise and ballistic missiles targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure – despite US President Donald Trump’s repeated calls for energy ceasefire .

“It is very telling that all of this is happening on the day of the US congressional elections. The Russians believe that America will not notice this signal from them. But such terror must be noticed and stopped,” Zelensky said on Tuesday morning.

“ Ukraine must be helped to defend its skies, otherwise Russia will never stop its missile strikes. It is essential to help build peace honestly and reliably, and America can do that,” Zelensky added.

The strike on Monday is among the deadliest since the start of the war, but the past few months have been exceptionally bloody for Ukrainian civilians.

Russia ramped up its aerial attacks on towns and cities across the country over the summer, striking at all times of the day.

At least 33 people were killed last month when Russia hit two civilian buses in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region. In August, 38 people were killed when a Russian drone strike on an ammunition depot near the capital triggered a large fire and multiple explosions that lasted hours in a residential area near Kyiv. And a mass Russian missile attack on Kyiv in July killed 33 people across the city in a coordinated barrage.

State Emergency Service/Reuters

The assault against Komyshuvakha on Monday followed a familiar scenario in which Russian forces launch the first wave of strikes, wait for emergency services to arrive and then strike again.

At least two first responders, named locally as Denys Konovalenko and Oleksiy Sushchevsky, both 44, were killed after rushing to the scene of the first strike.

The Ukrainian Police said at least four of its officers have also been killed in the attack. They were named as Mykhailo Buzhenko and Mykola Balanda, both of who had more than two decades of police service under their belts, and Mykhailo Romanov and Dmytro Besedin, both of whom have been community police officers for more than a decade.

“(They) were helping local residents take shelter in an underground school. A treacherous follow-up strike trapped everyone who was trying to escape,” the police said in a statement.

Semikin told Ukraine’s national TV broadcast on Tuesday that Russia used KAB-500 and FAB-3000 bombs in the attack.

“To put this into perspective, this is a three-ton aerial bomb containing nearly 1.5 tons of explosive material; such weapons are primarily designed to destroy heavy concrete fortifications and bunkers,” he said.

俄罗斯向乌克兰东南部一所学校建筑投掷了至少九枚炸弹，造成数十人死亡，当时他们正在那里避难。

扎波罗热州科米舒瓦哈市一栋被用作避难所和人道主义援助分发中心的建筑物遭到袭击，目前已确认至少 31 人死亡，另有 48 人下落不明。当地州长米哈伊洛·塞米金表示。

塞米金说，他们当时在一个新建的、由欧盟资助的加固地下室里，该地下室的设计目的是抵御大多数袭击，但炸弹的巨大冲击力导致混凝土结构坍塌，并引发了火灾。

这座避难所建于去年，旨在战时维持学校正常运转。但随着战火逼近村庄，许多村民已经离开，目前它已不再用作学校。当地政府将其用作行政中心和人道主义援助枢纽。

玛莎的丈夫在前线作战，但她却被一架俄罗斯无人机炸死了。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基称这次袭击“极其可怕”。

他说，就在俄罗斯向乌克兰能源基础设施发动另一轮大规模攻击之前，发生了这次袭击。俄罗斯出动了数百架无人机和数十枚威力强大的巡航导弹和弹道导弹——尽管美国总统唐纳德·特朗普一再呼吁能源领域的停火。

“所有这一切都发生在美国国会选举日，这非常耐人寻味。俄罗斯人认为美国不会注意到他们发出的这个信号。但这种恐怖主义行径必须被察觉并制止，”泽连斯基周二上午表示。

泽连斯基补充说：“必须帮助乌克兰保卫领空，否则俄罗斯永远不会停止导弹袭击。帮助乌克兰真诚可靠地建立和平至关重要，而美国能够做到这一点。”

周一发生的袭击是战争开始以来最致命的袭击之一，但过去几个月对乌克兰平民来说格外血腥。

今年夏天，俄罗斯加大了对全国城镇的空袭力度，一天中的任何时间都发动袭击。

上个月，俄罗斯在顿涅茨克州克拉马托尔斯克袭击了两辆民用巴士，造成至少33人死亡。8月，俄罗斯无人机袭击了首都附近的一个弹药库，引发大火和多次爆炸，持续数小时，造成基辅附近居民区38人死亡。7月，俄罗斯对基辅发动大规模导弹袭击，在一次协同攻击中，全市共有33人丧生。

美国国家紧急事务管理局/路透社

周一，俄罗斯军队对科米舒瓦哈发动的袭击遵循了一个熟悉的模式：他们先发动第一波袭击，等待紧急救援人员到达后，再进行第二次袭击。

至少有两名急救人员在赶往第一次袭击现场时丧生，他们分别是 44 岁的 Denys Konovalenko 和 Oleksiy Sushchevsky。

乌克兰警方表示，至少有四名警员在袭击中丧生。他们分别是米哈伊洛·布任科和米科拉·巴兰达，两人均拥有超过二十年的警务经验；以及米哈伊洛·罗曼诺夫和德米特罗·贝塞丁，两人均担任社区警务人员超过十年。

警方在一份声明中表示：“（他们）当时正在帮助当地居民躲进一所地下学校。随后发生的一次阴险的袭击将所有试图逃跑的人都困在了里面。”

塞米金周二在乌克兰国家电视台表示，俄罗斯在袭击中使用了 KAB-500 和 FAB-3000 炸弹。

“为了让大家更好地理解，这是一枚三吨重的航空炸弹，内含近 1.5 吨炸药；这类武器的主要设计用途是摧毁重型混凝土防御工事和掩体，”他说。