At least 20 civilians were killed on Tuesday when a Russian airstrike struck a crowd gathered to collect pensions in the village of Yarova, eastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
The attack, one of the deadliest in recent weeks, unfolded just 24 kilometers from Sloviansk, deep behind the current front line in Donetsk region.
“Directly on people. Ordinary civilians. At the very moment when pensions were being disbursed,” Zelenskiy wrote on X, posting footage that showed bodies lying on the ground amid scattered debris. Local authorities confirmed at least 21 others were injured in the strike.
Governor Vadym Filashkin described the scene as “devastating,” with rescue workers scrambling to treat the wounded and recover remains from the blast site. Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, said the strike was “yet another confirmation of systemic terror against the civilian population of Ukraine.”
Moscow did not immediately respond to the accusations. Russian officials have repeatedly denied targeting civilians, despite mounting evidence and international condemnation of attacks on residential areas, hospitals, schools, and civilian infrastructure. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The strike comes as Russian forces continue grinding offensives across Donetsk, making incremental gains while Kyiv’s counteroffensive efforts have stalled. With peace talks effectively frozen for over a year, the war has settled into an attritional phase marked by high casualties and devastating damage to civilian life.
Zelenskiy appealed directly to Ukraine’s allies, urging Washington, Brussels and the G20 to respond with greater pressure on Moscow. “The world must not remain silent. The world must not remain idle,” he said, calling for tougher sanctions and more military support.
The tragedy in Yarova underscores the human cost of the war at a time when international attention is increasingly divided by other global crises.
For Ukraine, the attack is a grim reminder that even in areas behind the front lines, civilians remain exposed to sudden, lethal violence from the air.
