Bodycam captures deadly Russian double-tap strike in Ukraine

Ukraine’s national police released bodycam footage Wednesday showing a deadly Russian double-tap strike in Kamyshuvakha, a village in the Zaporizhzhia region. The video picks up after the first bomb hit: buildings are wrecked, rubble is scattered everywhere, and stunned residents stare at the damage. Then a military official is heard on a two-way radio warning police on the ground that more glide bombs are heading toward the village.

An officer shouts at people to get underground. They file into a shelter at least two floors below ground. Seconds later, the shelter is hit. The recording cuts out.

Ukraine says the shelter was near a local school that was being used to hand out humanitarian aid. BBC Verify confirmed the bodycam video was filmed in the same place as footage from Ukraine’s state emergencies service, DSNS, showing the aftermath of Monday’s attack in Komyshuvakha. The DSNS also posted video of a massive crater left behind.

In a social media post Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia dropped nine aerial bombs. He said the first wave struck people who had come to receive aid, and the second hit rescuers and police officers who arrived at the scene. Zelensky described the attack as another of “thousands” of Russian war crimes and said the world’s reaction had been far too muted.

The Russian military has not publicly commented on the attack. Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.