Body camera footage has captured the horrific moment a Russian bomb struck a shelter where civilians were fleeing an initial air raid in the Ukrainian village of Komyshuvacha, in the Zaporizhzhia region. The attack, which occurred on a Monday, has resulted in at least 42 confirmed deaths, a figure that is not final, as more than 20 people may still be under the rubble.
The video, released by the Ukrainian police on the social media platform Telegram, shows individuals descending into the underground spaces of a school building after an air raid siren was sounded. Moments later, an explosion is visible. The footage is from the body camera of a police officer who arrived at the scene after the first strike. The recording includes a radio warning from a soldier about a further attack.
Russian “Double Tap” Attack on Humanitarian Center
As seen in the video, the officer can be heard shouting, “Run quickly to the shelter,” to locals just before a second bomb hits the shelter, ending the recording. Russian pilots dropped nine three-ton bombs during the attack on Komyshuvacha, a village near Zaporizhzhia. The guided aerial bombs, known as FAB-3000, completely destroyed the building, leaving only a crater in the ground.
Russia used a tactic known as a “double tap” in this attack, as it has many times in the past: after a bomb hits, they wait until people, rescuers and firefighters arrive on the scene, and then detonate another bomb. According to Reuters, this attack is one of the deadliest on civilians this year.
Ukrainian rescuers are desperately digging for survivors after a Russian double-tap airstrike hit an aid center and community bomb shelter in Zaporizhzhia yesterday. The death toll currently stands at 33, with over 50 missing. Five people have been pulled from the rubble. pic.twitter.com/nToA5ai1ow
Official Response and International Context
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj responded to the attack, stating, “They must have known what they were targeting. They could not have failed to notice that people were coming to the site for humanitarian aid. After the ceasefire in Oleshky, they could have shown that they wanted de-escalation, but instead, they are killing again.”
Russia has consistently denied that it targets civilian targets during the war. The worst Russian attack on a residential building in terms of the number of victims to date occurred in January 2023 in the city of Dnipro, where a Russian Kh-101 missile struck a building in a residential district, killing 46 people.
The targeted building served as a center for humanitarian aid. The death toll has climbed as rescue operations continue.
Russian forces conducted a double-tap airstrike on a humanitarian aid center in Zaporizhzhia Oblast as residents gathered for an aid distribution today. The strike killed at least 24, including two emergency personnel and four police officers responding to the first explosion. pic.twitter.com/8bczjrEbWl
More on Zaporizhzhia
This video shows the underground school in Zaporizhzhia hit yesterday by Russian glide bombs Around 70 Ukrainian civilians were killed. It had stopped being a school and served as a humanitarian aid point in recent months. pic.twitter.com/EHXOU3eYEe
Emergency response efforts have been ongoing since last night to deal with the aftermath of the Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia. The city was struck with North Korean ballistic missiles, Zircons, and guided aerial bombs. It was a vicious attack, calculated to inflict maximum… pic.twitter.com/6Bj3KpdYVQ
