Ukraine reports 29 dead in Russian bombing in Zaporizhzhia
The strike on Komyshuvakha hit a school where aid was handed out and a shelter. Regional authorities also count 48 people missing.
Russian aircraft dropped aerial bombs on Komyshuvakha, a village near the front line in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia district, on Monday. The toll now stands at 29 dead and five injured, with 48 people still missing, acting regional military administration chief Mykhailo Semikin said Tuesday.
The first bomb hit a school where aid was handed out every week. Nine more then fell on a shelter with people inside, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Semikin put the count at no fewer than nine FAB-3000 guided bombs on the center of the village. The search through the rubble continues.
The toll climbed through the day. Zelenskyy first spoke of 18 dead and five injured. By Monday evening, Ukraine's State Emergency Service counted 26 dead, among them two rescuers and four police officers.
The school was not holding classes because the village sits so close to the fighting, Zelenskyy said, and Russia had to know residents gathered there every week for aid. He called it an "extraordinarily terrible" Russian attack. "The scale of the tragedy is terrible," Semikin said.
The strike came shortly after a local truce expired in neighboring Kherson region. It had been in force since Oct. 27 to let aid in and allow anyone who wished to leave Oleshky, a Russian-occupied city, to go. Zelenskyy tied that humanitarian operation to the chances of moving toward peace and said Moscow "does not want any de-escalation."
Ukraine and Russia are due to meet in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10 and 11, in talks mediated by the United States.
