A Russian strike has killed 24 people waiting for pension payments in a front-line town of eastern Ukraine where Russian forces are massing forces for a large-scale offensive, officials said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video showing several corpses strewn on the ground by a burned-out minivan and playground - images AFP could not independently verify.
"A brutally savage Russian airstrike with an aerial bomb on the rural settlement of Yarova in the Donetsk region. Directly on people. Ordinary civilians. At the very moment when pensions were being disbursed," Mr Zelensky wrote online.
Moscow has claimed the industrial region as part of Russia despite not having full control over it. Kyiv says the Kremlin has massed 100,000 troops at a key part of the front line for a fresh offensive.
The interior ministry said 24 people were killed, while the army said Moscow had dropped a glide bomb - weapons fixed with wings to help them fly over dozens of kilometres.
They are part of an arsenal developed by Russia to hit deeper into Ukrainian territory and stretch the front line.
Yarova is about eight kilometres from the front line and had a pre-war population of around 1,900 people.
AFP journalists in eastern Ukraine saw mourners weeping outside a morgue where staff had laid out at least 13 corpses in black body bags.
Mr Zelensky urged Ukraine's allies to issue a response to the attack.
"A response is needed from the United States. A response is needed from Europe. A response is needed from the G20," he said.
'Strong actions'
"Strong actions are needed to make Russia stop bringing death," Mr Zelensky added, while the prosecutor general said it had opened a war crime investigation.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow or the Kremlin on the strike.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian postal network, Ukrposhta, confirmed that one of its vehicles was damaged in the attack and that its department head, identified as Yulia, had been hospitalised.
Ukrposhta, which delivers public services in front-line regions, said it would change how it distributes pensions and basic services there.
Russia has been steadily advancing in the eastern Donetsk region for months, concentrating its firepower on the territory and deploying troops from other parts of the front line, Kyiv has said.
Authorities in Donetsk have been appealing to civilians to flee the fighting since the early days of Russia's invasion in February 2022.
Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said this week that Russian forces outnumbered Ukrainian troops threefold in some areas of the front, and by six times in regions where Moscow has concentrated its forces.
US President Donald Trump said he has tried to find a way to end the war in recent weeks but has little to show for his efforts.
The strike comes just days after a Russian missile crashed into the Ukrainian government headquarters in central Kyiv, the first time the complex had been hit in the three-and-a-half-year war.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions forced from their homes in Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II.
Germany to back Ukraine with 'deep-strike' drones
Germany will launch a new "deep-strike initiative" to provide Ukraine with "several thousand long-range drones" to help it repel Russia's invasion, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has said.
At a meeting of Ukraine's allies in London, Mr Pistorius said Germany was "expanding Ukraine's capabilities to weaken Russia's war machinery in the hinterland, providing an effective defence".
That includes boosting "support for the procurement of long-range drones with Ukraine's defence industry," he noted.
"As part of this initiative we are concluding a number of contracts with Ukrainian enterprises amounting to a total of €300 million", Mr Pistorius said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in May, during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, that Berlin would help Kyiv develop new long-range weapons that can hit targets in Russian territory.
Mr Merz said at the time that both countries' defence ministers would sign a memorandum of understanding for the production of the long-range weapons systems, noting there would be no range restrictions on their use.
At today's meeting of the 50-strong Ukraine Defence Contact Group, British Defence Minister John Healey said the UK would also continue sending one-way attack drones "vital for Ukraine's defence".
"Over the next 12 months, the UK will fund the delivery of thousands of long-range one-way attack drones, built in the UK, and supporting our 100-year partnership with Ukraine," Mr Healey told the meeting, which was partly virtual and partly in-person.
It follows UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Mr Zelensky cementing a deal to jointly produce military drones during a UK visit by the Ukrainian leader in June.
A British announcement at the time said the pact aimed to deliver Ukraine "large numbers of battle-proven drones".
London also announced in January that it would lead, alongside Latvia, an international coalition aiming to send 30,000 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Ukraine, through the UK-led International Fund for Ukraine (IFU).
The fund, which receives donations from Ukraine's allies and partners, procures priority military equipment, including air defence and artillery systems.
Updating allies on its progress, Mr Healey said the fund had now raised more than £2 billion ($2.7 billion).
He added the "funding milestone... is symbolic of unity, with 11 countries working together with the UK to ensure Ukraine receives the urgent support it needs".
