ع
Ukrainian authorities said Russian aircraft dropped at least nine 3,000-kilogram guided bombs on the village of Komyshuvakha in the Zaporizhzhia region on November 2, first targeting a school repurposed as a humanitarian aid distribution point before launching a follow-up strike on an adjacent shelter. Regional head Mykhailo Semikin put the death toll at 29 while noting that search and rescue work remained underway with the possibility of further increases in casualties. Semikin described the scale of the tragedy as horrific in a statement circulated on Telegram and reported across multiple outlets.[[1]](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjy56dndlyz0o)
President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the initial bombs hit while residents were arriving for their weekly aid packages at the school, which had no classes due to its location near the frontline roughly a dozen kilometres from active combat. “After the first aerial bomb strike, there was a double-tap strike with nine more bombs, specifically targeting the shelter where people were taking cover,” Zelensky wrote in his update on the incident. He added that the Russians could not have been unaware that local residents who remained in Komyshuvakha received humanitarian aid at that location every week and labelled the action a vile terrorist strike.[[2]](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/nov/03/russia-bombs-ukrainian-aid-centre-komyshuvakha)
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported that two rescuers and four police officers were among those killed after they arrived at the scene of the first strike and took cover in the shelter during the second wave of bombing. Emergency responders identified the deceased rescuers as Denys Konovalenko and Oleksii Sushchevskyi, both 44 years old. Five people were injured including two rescue workers with some of the wounded treated in hospital as operations to clear rubble continued.[[3]](https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/russian-glide-bombs-strike-school-and-shelter-1793644604.html)
Officials from the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration noted that the village lies approximately 25 kilometres east of the city of Zaporizhzhia and that the school had been serving as a resilience centre for aid distribution and shelter because of its relative safety compared with other locations. The Guardian reported that Russian drones launched additional strikes on the bombed area in the evening which hindered rescue teams searching through collapsed buildings by torchlight. Prosecutors opened a war crimes investigation into the strike and documented damage to the school building, a utility structure, vehicles and a fire truck.[[2]](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/nov/03/russia-bombs-ukrainian-aid-centre-komyshuvakha)
The Kyiv Independent and RBC-Ukraine both reported that the confirmed death toll rose progressively during the day from an initial figure of 18 provided by Zelensky to 24 and then higher as more bodies were recovered from the rubble. Nearly 50 people were listed as missing according to the latest regional administration update while families awaited news. The Office of the Prosecutor General said people remained trapped under debris and that information on victims continued to be clarified.[[4]](https://kyivindependent.com/exceptionally-horrific-strike-russian-bombs-strike-school-used-as-humanitarian-aid-center-in-zaporizhzhia-oblast-killing-24/)
No comment has come from the Russian military on the strike according to coverage by international wire services. The incident occurred less than a day after the end of a localised six-day humanitarian ceasefire in the neighbouring Kherson region that had been arranged for aid deliveries. Zelensky used his nightly address to call for a strong and firm global response to prevent further such attacks on civilian sites.[[5]](https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-at-least-26-killed-in-russian-strikes-on-aid-center/live-79825079)
