At least 29 people were killed on Monday, November 2, in a series of airstrikes on the village of Komyshuvakha in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian authorities said. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU) initially reported 24 deaths, but the toll continued to rise. Another 48 people are listed as missing, according to the head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration; search and rescue operations are continuing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the village had been attacked several times with aerial bombs since morning. The strikes hit a school being used for humanitarian purposes, where local residents received aid. “After the first strike with an aerial bomb, another followed—nine more bombs, deliberately targeting the shelter where people were hiding,” Zelenskyy wrote.
Footage released by the SESU shows destroyed buildings, craters and piles of rubble, as well as rescuers clearing debris in a dark shelter.
Rescuers and police officers among those killed
Those killed included two SESU employees, 44-year-old Denys Konovalenko and Oleksii Sushchevskyi, as well as at least four police officers. The rescuers and police officers arrived after the first strike. When the threat of another attack emerged, they took shelter, but bombs struck the same location again. The gym, an auxiliary building and a fire engine were destroyed, while the school building was damaged. Five injured people were hospitalized. According to police, the search operation is being hampered by drone attacks, shelling and smoke.
Komyshuvakha is located about 20 kilometers from the front line. Classes had not been held at the school for a long time; on Mondays, humanitarian aid was distributed in the building and its shelter to residents who remained in the village. In June, four people were injured when a drone struck an aid distribution point in the village, according to the Ukrinform news agency.
“Russia is counting on new killings”
Zelenskyy said the Russian military “could not have failed to know” that residents received aid there every week. He said that after the humanitarian operation in Aleshky, there had been a chance to show that progress toward peace was possible, but “with these killings, Russia is sending the exact opposite signal.” The president called on the world to deliver a “strong and tough” response and again said that missiles were needed for Patriot air defense systems. November 3 was declared a day of mourning in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Russia’s Defense Ministry did not comment on reports of the strike on Komyshuvakha.
Photo: Anadolu. Video: Ukraine’s State Emergency Service
