Russian air strike on Ukrainian school during aid distribution branded war crime

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

A Russian air strike on a school in southern Ukraine that killed four adults as people gathered to receive humanitarian aid has been branded a “war crime” by the regional governor.

Three women and a man, all in their 40s, died on Sunday after the attack in the town of Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia governor Yuriy Malashko said.

A guided aerial bomb caused an explosion at the school, Mr Malashko claimed.

Eleven other people were injured.

Overall, Russia fired on 10 settlements in the province over the course of a day, the governor added.

Moscow denies that it targets civilian locations. Russia has been accused numerous times of doing so and committing other war crimes since its full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.

In March, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.

Broad investigations are also under way in Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

The International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, located in The Hague, is helping with those investigations.