Follow-Up: Death Toll in Ukraine's Komyshuvakha Aid Centre Bombing Rises to 40, With 59 Still Missing

KYIV, Ukraine — Rescue work continued on Wednesday, November 4, in the village of Komyshuvakha in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, and Ukrainian officials said the death toll from Russia's November 2 bombing of a humanitarian aid distribution point has risen to 40, up from the 37 previously reported by GSM. Ivan Fedorov, co-head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Defense Council, wrote on Telegram that 59 people were still missing. Reuters described the bombing as one of the deadliest strikes on civilians this year.

Reuters footage on Wednesday showed men in military fatigues loading bodies in white plastic bags into the back of a van. Excavators were digging up earth near a huge blast crater while rescue workers searched underground for bodies. The incident is still developing.

Bodycam footage from one of the policemen killed in the attack, posted by Ukraine's national police and verified by Reuters, shows rubble and badly damaged buildings in the aftermath of the initial aerial attacks. Some 15 to 20 people in civilian clothing are gathered outside the entrance to an underground shelter when a warning comes over a radio that Russian glide bombs are heading in the direction of the village. Residents rush down several flights of stairs towards a room; in the final frames there is a large explosion and the camera turns black. In the accompanying post, the national police said several strikes hit the area, including from a 3-ton FAB bomb; according to defence intelligence websites, a glide bomb of that size would carry around 1.4 tons of explosives.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russian forces first dropped aerial bombs on an underground school building being used as a distribution point as people arrived to collect aid, then struck the shelter where they had taken cover. The school, some 17 km (11 miles) from the nearest Russian positions, had long suspended classes and served as a shelter, handing out humanitarian aid every Monday. Emergency services said two members of a rescue crew and four police officers were among the dead.

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. Russia and Ukraine both deny deliberately targeting civilians.

The strike occurred a day after a six-day local ceasefire to evacuate civilians from the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian town of Oleshky expired; the truce, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump, 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: Follow-Up: Death Toll in Ukraine's Komyshuvakha Aid Centre Bombing Rises to 37, With 59 Missing

(Source: Reuters)

Source: Reuters

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：乌克兰扎波罗热市 Sobornyi Avenue（资料图），事发地科梅舒瓦哈村位于扎波罗热州。Wlados1991 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Sobornyi Avenue in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine (file photo); the village of Komyshuvakha is in Zaporizhzhia region. By Wlados1991, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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