Official: 78 Ukrainian first responders killed by Russia's full-scale war

Since the beginning of the all-out war, 78 Ukrainian first responders were killed in Russian attacks while doing their job, the State Emergency Service's spokesman Oleksandr Khorunzhyi said on Aug. 8.

An additional 280 emergency workers have sustained injuries, according to Khorunzhyi, cited by Ukraine's Defense Ministry media center.

Russia violates international conventions by attacks against the first responders as they don't take part in hostilities but rescue civilians and provide aid, the official added.

On Aug. 7, Russia's missile strike against Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast, killed seven people, including Andrii Omelchenko, a senior official within the regional emergency service department.

Colonel Omelchenko was 52 years old. "He gave half of his life to the service," Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko wrote on Telegram.

According to Donetsk Oblast Governor Kyrylenko, the Pokrovsk attack injured seven first responders. As of 11 a.m. local time on Aug. 8, a total of 88 people were confirmed wounded, said Kyrylenko.

Two more emergency workers sustained injuries on Aug. 7 in a Russian air strike on Kharkiv Oblast's village of Kruhliakivka. Russian troops hit the settlement again when the first responders arrived at the scene of the first strike.