Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russian forces first dropped aerial bombs on the underground school building as people arrived to collect aid, and then struck the shelter again with more bombs. The building, whose classes have long been suspended because of its closeness to the front line, about 17 kilometres from the nearest Russian positions, handed out humanitarian aid every Monday and served as a shelter for local residents.
The scale of the destruction has made the rescue effort painfully slow. Local governor Mykhailo Semikin said the victims were sheltering in a newly built, EU-funded reinforced basement designed to withstand most strikes, but the force of the bombs caused the concrete structure to collapse and a fire broke out. Two days after the attack, recovery work was still under way, and officials said only some of the bodies recovered had been identified, with further identification likely to require DNA testing.
Among the dead were two members of a rescue crew and four police officers, according to emergency services. Police said the officers had been helping residents take shelter in the underground school when a follow-up strike trapped those trying to escape. The co-head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Defense Council, Ivan Fedorov, wrote on Telegram that 59 people were missing.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said the attack targeted Ukrainian military units around Komyshuvakha and two other settlements, and that up to 25 Ukrainian servicemen were killed. Both Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians. The World Central Kitchen charity, which delivers food and water to the community, said the facility that was hit was a humanitarian and administrative centre for local people.
The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine noted that the attack took place just as civilians had gathered to receive aid, and that the timing and location of the distribution were well publicised. The strike came a day after a brief US-brokered local ceasefire expired, and less than a week before the United States is due to bring Ukrainian and Russian delegations together in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11 for talks on ending a war now in its fifth year. For the families still waiting for news from Komyshuvakha, those talks will come too late.
