Russian attack on humanitarian aid point killed five, Ukraine says

Eleven people were wounded in the attack and are being treated in hospital.

 A view shows a residential building hit by a Russian missile strike the previous day, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Lviv, Ukraine July 7, 2023. (photo credit: REUTERS/ROMAN BALUK)
A view shows a residential building hit by a Russian missile strike the previous day, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Lviv, Ukraine July 7, 2023.
(photo credit: REUTERS/ROMAN BALUK)

The death toll from a Russian attack on a humanitarian aid distribution point in southeastern Ukraine rose to five on Monday, and two people were killed by , Ukrainian officials said.

Yuriy Malashko, governor of the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, said a guided aviation bomb was used in Sunday's attack on a school building being used to distribute aid in the small town of Orikhiv.

Malashko said on the Telegram messaging app on Monday morning that three women and a man had been killed. He told Ukrainian television later on Monday that the body of a fifth victim, a man, had also been pulled from the wreckage.

Eleven people were wounded in the attack and are being treated in hospital, Malashko added.

The incident, investigated as a war crime, jeopardized many lives 

The General Prosecutor's office had said earlier on Monday that the incident was being investigated as a war crime.

 A view shows an apartment building damaged during a massive Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine June 10, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/Serhii Smolientsev)
A view shows an apartment building damaged during a massive Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine June 10, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/Serhii Smolientsev)

Emergency services said before Malashko's later comments, that the search and rescue operation was continuing and it was feared that three people were still under the rubble.

The prosecutor's office said that two people had been killed and three wounded on Monday in Russian shelling of the village of Hostre and the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, denies deliberately targeting civilians.

Ukraine's military is conducting a counteroffensive to try to retake Russian-occupied territory in the Zaporizhzhia region.