Russian bombing kills 18 people at Ukraine aid centre, Kyiv says

At least 18 people waiting to receive humanitarian aid in a Ukrainian village have been killed in a Russian attack that Ukraine's leader has called "utterly horrific". Five people were injured and another 27 remain missing after at least nine 3,000kg aerial bombs hit the village of Komyshuvakha in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, according to regional head Mykhailo Semikin. There are fears the death toll will rise further, as a number of people are still under the rubble. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that after the first strike on the local school, which he said was "used for humanitarian needs", there was a second attack on the place where people were sheltering. He posted a video showing a huge crater left after Monday's attack, along with footage of rescue teams searching through the rubble. "The Russians could not have been unaware that the local residents who remained in Komyshuvakha received humanitarian aid there every week," Zelensky wrote in a post on social media. "This is yet another proof that Russia does not want any de-escalation." The Ukrainian president said that after a recent successful joint Russian-Ukrainian operation to evacuate civilians from the Russia-occupied southern city of Oleshky, "there was a moment when the next steps could show that peace is possible". "With such killings, Russia is sending the exact opposite signal - Russia is counting on further killings," Zelensky said. Meanwhile, Semikin said rescue teams were working at the scene and confirmed that people were still under the rubble. The Russian military has not publicly commented on the attack. Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.