Komyshuvakha Death Toll Rises to 55 After Second Russian Strike
Emergency workers were hit by a drone while searching for survivors in a village that had already been bombed by guided aerial missiles.
By Paula Delgado ·
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, HUR, confirmed on Monday that at least 55 people died in the village of Komyshuvakha in the Zaporizhzhia region. The death toll follows a second Russian attack on Sunday that targeted emergency crews already responding to a previous bombardment.
Russian drones struck a former school and a nearby shelter where residents had gathered to wait for humanitarian aid. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that no one was injured during the Sunday strike, though specialized rescue equipment was damaged. The initial attack involved multiple Russian guided bombs that destroyed the former school and the underground facility used by civilians as shelter.
HUR stated that approximately 50 people remain missing. The agency noted that many recovered bodies have not yet been identified, and DNA analysis is currently underway. Mykola Krasnov, a 72-year-old resident, told The Associated Press on Saturday that he is still searching for his wife. He said she left the shelter to collect humanitarian aid when a 3-ton bomb hit the area. “She didn’t come home, and they didn’t find her body there,” Krasnov said.
The intelligence agency identified several Russian service members involved in what it described as a double tap strike. Ukraine has frequently accused Russia of using this tactic to hit sites twice in quick succession, specifically to eliminate emergency workers responding to the first explosion. On Saturday, police officers and relatives gathered in Zaporizhzhia for a farewell ceremony for six officers killed in the strikes. Four of those officers died near the former school.
Rain fell during the ceremony as families wept beside coffins and colleagues held portraits of the fallen. Andrii Khomenko, a police lieutenant colonel who worked with the victims, said the officers used every skill available to protect themselves. He added that when the enemy gathered civilians in one place and then struck, no skills could have saved them. Yuliia Nykonenko, a senior police lieutenant, stated that the officers risked their lives to save others, including children. She recalled how the group had once escaped a Russian FPV drone together.
The community also buried three other residents in a section of the Zaporizhzhia cemetery where authorities plan to build a memorial. Yurii Karapetian, a community leader, mourned the loss of his wife Natalia Karapetian. He said she was distributing bread to people in the shelter when the bombs landed. Karapetian explained that his wife stayed in Komyshuvakha to help elderly residents living alone. “This pain, I would say, is unbearable,” he said. He urged the international community to act, warning that Russia will not stop at Ukraine if it is not stopped now.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack on emergency crews an act of absolute cynicism and brutality in a post on X on Sunday. He reported that Russian strikes on energy infrastructure in the Dnipropetrovsk region overnight left more than 600,000 people without power. Zelenskyy said Russia launched 115 missiles, 1,900 guided aerial bombs, and more than 3,000 drones against Ukraine in the past week. Many of the missiles were produced this year. He called on Kyiv's partners to sanction entities involved in their production.
Zelenskyy said that if the world lacks the anti-ballistic capabilities to protect Ukrainian skies, the missiles must be stopped on the production lines. He urged the European Union to impose a strong 22nd package of sanctions against Russia. Meanwhile, the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant reported that it lost its external power supply on Sunday. A damaged power line was disconnected for safety, leaving the plant on backup diesel generators. The plant, the largest in Europe, needs power to keep essential cooling systems running. Its external power supply has been periodically severed since Russia captured the site early in the war.
