| 2025 Yarova attack | |
|---|---|
| Part ofWar crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine | |
.jpg) Body bags in Yarova following the attack | |
| Location | Yarova,Donetsk Oblast,Ukraine |
| Date | September 9, 2025 10:40am |
| Target | Ukrainian civilians |
Attack type | Glide bomb |
| Deaths | 25 |
| Injured | 19 |
| Perpetrator |  Russia |
On September 9, 2025, as part of theRusso-Ukrainian War,Russia launched amissile strike onYarova,Donetsk Oblast,Ukraine that killed 25 pensioners and injured 18 others who were waiting to pick up their pension.Human Rights Watch confirmed all the killed people were civilians and concluded that the Russian strike may amount to awar crime ofindiscriminate and disproportionate attack.
Yarova is located in northern Donetsk Oblast, about 15 miles north ofSloviansk. It had been the site of several battles in early 2022 when it was a frontline village between Russian and Ukrainian troops, although following the2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive the village was liberated by Ukrainian forces.[1] In late August 2025, Russian forces ramped up attacks on Ukrainian cities, killing 23 people inKyiv.[2]
The Russian missile strike hit the center of Yarova at 10:40am, while pensioners were lining up to receive their pensions from a mobileUkrposhta van.[3][4] The van had been parked under trees to avoid being targeted, and the local Ukrposhta head Igor Smelyansky said that they had been moving around the van and changing patterns to avoid targeting.[4] Interior MinisterIhor Klymenko said that the bomb was a guided air bomb, and that someone had possibly given away the coordinates of the pensioners.[5]
Ukrainian emergency services said that 24 people had been killed, of whom 23 were elderly, and nineteen others were injured.[6][3] By September 10, Donetsk Oblast governorVadym Filashkin said that the death toll increased to 25 killed and 18 injured.[7]
Ukrainian presidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack "brutally savage", and Ukrainian officials launched a war crime investigation.[6]
Human Rights Watch confirmed all the killed people were civilians. It concluded that the Russian strike may amount to a war crime ofindiscriminate and disproportionate attack.[8]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)| International humanitarian law |
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| War crimes by type |
| ||||
| War crimes committed by... | |||||
| War crimes by war |
| ||||
| Related topics |
| ||||
