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A Russian airstrike killed at least 23 people as they collected pension payments in a village in Kyiv-controlled eastern Ukraine, according to reports by local authorities.
The strike hit the village of Yarova, located about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from Sloviansk and several kilometers away from the front line in the Donetsk Region.
Regional governor Vadym Filashkin initially reported that at least 21 people were killed and many others were injured.
“[The] Russians attacked people when their pensions were being handed out. This is not warfare — this is pure terrorism,” he wrote on Telegram. “Rescuers, medics, police, and local authorities are currently working at the scene. We are helping the victims and establishing the exact consequences of this crime.”
Lyman City Military Administration head Oleksandr Zhuravlov later told Suspilne that the death toll from the strike had risen to 23, with 18 residents of the village injured and three in serious condition.
“At 10:40 there was a strike, presumably a KAB-250 [aerial bomb]. It hit the exact spot where [state postal company] Ukrposhta was handing out pensions to the population. At this moment, 23 people have been killed and 18 wounded. Three are in serious condition, the others are more or less stable, and they were taken to Sloviansk for stabilization,” Zhuravlov said.
Ukrposhta said one of its employees was among the wounded. She is now in a hospital and out of danger thanks to the quick actions of her driver, the company said, adding that it is working to change pension distribution procedures in frontline areas to avoid putting people at risk.
“Directly on people. Ordinary civilians. At the very moment when pensions were being disbursed,” Zelensky wrote on X, posting a video that showed bodies on the ground and debris scattered nearby.
He urged Kyiv’s allies to increase pressure on Moscow, calling for responses from the United States, Europe and the G20. “The world must not remain silent. The world must not remain idle,” he wrote.
Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, said that the attack was “yet another confirmation of systemic terror against the civilian population of Ukraine.”
Russia did not immediately comment. Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, though tens of thousands have been killed since February 2022.
Before the full-scale invasion, Yarova was home to 2,500 people. The village was occupied by Russian forces in the summer of 2022 and retaken by Ukraine in September of that year. By 2024, the civilian population had dropped to 890.