Ukrainian authorities reported the updated toll on Friday as search crews continued working at a school used to distribute aid in the Zaporizhzhia region.
The death toll from a 2 November Russian airstrike on Komyshuvakha reached 53 on Friday, according to acting Zaporizhzhia regional governor Mykhailo Semikin. The attack hit a school used by residents to collect humanitarian aid. Search and rescue operations were in their fifth day.
Yuliia Barysheva, a regional spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, told an interagency briefing that 53 bodies had been recovered and about 50 people were still considered missing, Ukrinform reported. The figures describe the situation during the search. The authorities were continuing to account for people at the site.
Residents had gathered for a scheduled distribution
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said the local authorities had announced the aid distribution the previous day on a public social media channel. It was scheduled from 10:00 to noon. The mission said several glide bombs struck the school building while civilians were there.
Ukraine’s National Police said officers had been helping residents reach shelter when a subsequent strike trapped people. The police identified four officers who died and said two emergency service rescuers were also killed. Ukrinform reported that shelling and threats of further attacks forced search crews to pause work at times.
UN monitors are still verifying casualties
The UN mission reviewed photographs and video of the aftermath and said the damage was consistent with powerful aerial bombs. Its statement on 3 November gave an earlier casualty figure reported by local officials. Friday’s figure of 53 comes from Ukrainian authorities while the UN continues its own verification.
Mission head Danielle Bell said the attack appeared to violate fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. The mission pointed to the obligation to take feasible precautions to protect civilians and civilian sites. Bell’s assessment addresses what monitors had documented at that stage of their inquiry.
The attack follows an earlier strike on aid distribution
The same settlement was hit during a humanitarian distribution operation in June, when a short-range drone injured four civilians, the UN mission said. The organisation distributing aid at the time suspended its work in the settlement because of the security risk.
Fixed aid points allow residents to collect supplies close to home, especially when transport is limited. Repeated attacks put the people collecting aid and the crews who come to help at risk. In Komyshuvakha, recovery teams were still searching the damaged site when officials issued Friday’s revised toll.
Sources
Ukrinform — Friday search and casualty update
Reuters — regional governor’s updated death toll
United Nations in Ukraine — human rights monitors’ assessment
