Komishuvaha: Russian strike kills 55, search continues
Zaporizhzhia governor Mykhailo Semikin said on November 7 that a Russian air strike on a village killed 55 people, and the final toll is not yet known.
The death toll from the Russian air strike on the village of Komishuvaha in Zaporizhzhia Oblast has risen to 55, regional governor Mykhailo Semikin said on November 7. The final number has not been established, and rescuers have been pulling bodies from the rubble for a sixth day in a row. The November 2 strike is the deadliest attack on Zaporizhzhia Oblast since the start of the full-scale invasion.
“It is very hard to grasp the scale of this tragedy.”
That is how Semikin described the situation as he gave the figure of 55 victims.
What happened in Komishuvaha on November 2?
Russian forces hit the village several times that day. The first strike landed on a school building where residents were receiving humanitarian aid, and a so-called Invincibility Point operated in its basement. One of the bombs was a FAB-3000, a three-ton weapon carrying more than 1,000 kilograms of explosives.
After the first hit, people and rescuers took cover in a shelter, and nine more aerial bombs were dropped on it, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. He condemned the attack and said Russian forces could not have failed to know that civilians regularly gathered at the site to receive aid. Ukrainian military intelligence said four Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers took part in the strike.
The attack came a day after the end of a six-day ceasefire in occupied Oleshky, in Kherson Oblast, which expired on November 1.
How did the death toll climb?
On November 3, regional authorities reported 29 dead, five wounded and 48 people missing. By November 4, 40 deaths had been confirmed, including four police officers. On November 5, the fourth day of the operation, Ukraine’s National Police wrote on Facebook:
“Komishuvaha. Fourth day of rescue operations. So far, 42 bodies have been recovered from the rubble.”
Police added that “identification of unidentified bodies is under way” and that up to 33 more people could still be under the debris.
On November 6, at 10:51 a.m., Semikin wrote on Telegram: “Already 53 dead as a result of the Russian strike on Komishuvaha on November 2.” The State Emergency Service had put the count at 50 bodies two minutes earlier, at 10:49, after another eight were recovered. The next day Semikin raised the figure to 55.
Who are the victims, and who lived in the village?
The dead include two rescuers, a military medic and four police officers who had come to help the wounded. Komishuvaha had about 5,000 residents before the invasion. The security situation deteriorated sharply over the past six months, and the last children were evacuated from the village in June.
