Follow-Up: Death Toll in Ukraine's Komyshuvakha Aid Centre Bombing Rises to 37, With 59 Missing
KYIV, Ukraine — Rescue work continued on Wednesday, November 4, in the village of Komyshuvakha in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region. Mykhailo Semikin, acting head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, said on Wednesday that rescuers were still searching the rubble of the destroyed former school building for survivors, and that the confirmed death toll from Russia's November 2 bombing of the humanitarian aid distribution point and shelter has risen to 37. Ivan Fedorov, co-head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Defense Council, wrote on Telegram that 59 people were missing. The figures are up from the 33 dead and 50 missing previously reported by GSM; Reuters described the bombing as one of the deadliest strikes on civilians this year, and the incident is still developing.
According to CNN, as of Wednesday midday only 12 of the 37 bodies recovered from the rubble had been identified, and identification of the rest will likely require DNA testing. Two members of a rescue crew and four police officers were among the dead. Semikin has said the victims were in a newly built, EU-funded reinforced basement designed to withstand most strikes, but the massive force of the bombs collapsed its concrete structure and set it on fire. The school had long suspended classes because of its proximity to the front line and was being used by local authorities as an administrative center and humanitarian hub, handing out aid to residents every Monday.
Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said the timing and location of the humanitarian distribution had been well publicized. "Either the Russian armed forces knew that there was a humanitarian distribution taking place, or they failed to take the most basic steps to find out what was happening in this village they were planning to attack. In either case, this attack seems to have violated the most fundamental principles of international humanitarian law," she said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russian forces first dropped aerial bombs on the school building as people arrived to collect aid, then struck the shelter where they had taken cover, describing it as one of the deadliest attacks of this war.
Russia's Defence Ministry said the attack targeted Ukrainian military units around Komyshuvakha and two other settlements, and that up to 25 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed. Russia and Ukraine both deny deliberately targeting civilians.
The strike occurred a day after a six-day ceasefire to evacuate civilians from the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian town of Oleshky expired; the truce allowed nearly 800 people to be evacuated. US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Monday that the United States will bring together delegations from Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11 to discuss ending the conflict, postwar security agreements and de-escalation. As of publication, rescue operations in Komyshuvakha were continuing, and casualty figures remain subject to further official updates.
Related: Death Toll in Komyshuvakha Bombing Rises to 33, With 50 Still Missing in Ukraine
(Source: Reuters)
Source: Reuters
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：乌克兰扎波罗热市的拱桥与第聂伯河（资料图），事发地科梅舒瓦哈村位于扎波罗热州。Serge McKenna 摄，CC BY 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Arch Bridge over the Dnipro River in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine (file photo); the village of Komyshuvakha is in Zaporizhzhia region. By Serge McKenna, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- 2026-11-03Russian Bombs Hit Ukraine Aid Distribution Site, Killing 31 With About 48 Missing
- 2026-11-03Follow-up: Death Toll in Komyshuvakha Bombing Rises to 33, With 50 Still Missing in Ukraine
- 2026-11-04Follow-Up: Death Toll in Ukraine's Komyshuvakha Aid Centre Bombing Rises to 37, With 59 MissingThis story
