Russia bombs a school housing civilians with 9 bombs in Ukraine. Dozens of dead and missing

Dozens of people were killed as a result of Russia dropping at least nine bombs on a school building in southeastern Ukraine, where civilians had sought shelter from the bombing. The authorities confirmed that at least 31 people were killed, while 48 others are still missing, following the attack that targeted the building in the town of Kumichovakha in the Zaporizhya region, which was used as a shelter and center for distributing humanitarian aid, according to local governor Mykhailo Semykin.

Simikin explained that the victims were inside a fortified basement - newly built with European Union funding and designed to withstand most strikes - but the enormous force of the bombs led to the collapse of the concrete structure and a fire broke out. The shelter was built last year with the aim of ensuring the continuation of the educational process during the war, but as the battles approached the town, many civilians left it, and the building was no longer used as a school. The local authorities designated it as an administrative center and a point for distributing humanitarian aid.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the attack as "absolutely horrific." Zelensky stated that the shelter was bombed on Monday, while humanitarian aid was being distributed.

He added that this attack came just before Russia launched another massive wave of attacks, which included hundreds of drones and dozens of cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, targeting energy infrastructure in Ukraine, despite repeated calls from US President Donald Trump to stop targeting energy facilities. “It is very striking that all this is happening on the day of the US Congressional elections,” Zelensky said.

The Russians believe that America will not notice this message from them, but we must pay attention to this terrorism and put an end to it.” Zelensky continued: “Ukraine must be helped to defend its airspace, otherwise Russia will never stop its missile strikes.”

It is essential to help build an honest and credible peace, and America can do that.” These latest Russian attacks come at a time when the Trump administration seeks to push again toward negotiations.

US envoy Steve Witkoff recently held a meeting with Zelensky in Norway, before flying to St. Petersburg to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In a separate context, US First Lady Melania Trump contributed to reaching a ceasefire in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshki, which allowed the evacuation of hundreds of civilians over the weekend.

Trump's office announced on Tuesday that the First Lady will gather representatives of Russia and Ukraine at the White House on Thursday, describing this as "an exceptional moment in American history." Double attack The attack that occurred on Monday is considered one of the bloodiest attacks since the outbreak of the war, noting that the past few months have been exceptionally bloody for Ukrainian civilians.

Russia intensified its air attacks on towns and cities across the country over the summer, targeting them at different times of the day. Last month, at least 33 people were killed when Russia bombed two civilian buses in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region.

In August, 38 people were killed in a Russian drone strike that targeted an ammunition depot near the capital, sparking a massive fire and a series of explosions that lasted for hours in a residential area near Kiev. A large-scale Russian missile attack on Kiev in July also killed 33 people across the city.

As for the attack on Kumichovakha on Monday, it followed a familiar scenario. The Russian forces launch a first wave of strikes, then wait for emergency teams to arrive and resume the bombing again. At least two emergency response team members - Denis Konovalenko and Oleksiy Sochevsky, both 44 - were killed after arriving at the site of the first strike.

The Ukrainian police reported that at least four of their members were also killed in the attack: Mykhaylo Bozhenko and Mykola Balanda (who had more than two decades of police experience), and Mykhaylo Romanov and Dmytro Besedin (who had worked as community police officers for more than a decade). “They were helping local residents take shelter inside an underground school, but a subsequent treacherous strike trapped all those trying to escape,” police said in a statement.

Semykin told Ukrainian National Television on Tuesday that Russia used KAB-500 and FAB-3000 bombs in the attack. “To give you a sense of the scale, this is a three-ton aerial bomb containing approximately 1.5 tons of explosive material; weapons designed primarily to destroy heavy concrete fortifications and bunkers,” he explained.