OMM Newsroom
The death toll from a Russian strike on a humanitarian aid center in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region has risen to 53, local officials said Friday, according to Anadolu Agency.
“The death toll from the Russian strike on Komyshuvakha on Nov. 2 has reached 53,” acting Zaporizhzhia Governor Mykhailo Semikin said on Telegram.
Semikin said search and rescue operations at the site in the settlement of Komyshuvakha were continuing for a fifth consecutive day.
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces had used aerial bombs to strike a school in Komyshuvakha that was being used to distribute humanitarian aid.
“After the first aerial bomb strike, there was a double-tap strike with nine more bombs, specifically targeting the shelter where people were taking cover,” Zelenskyy said on the US social media platform “X”.
On Thursday, Zelenskyy said the death toll had reached 43 after meeting Portuguese President Antonio Jose Seguro in Madrid, Spain. Russian authorities have not commented on the strike.
Dozens reported missing
Ukraine’s National Police regional department said Wednesday that 59 people remained listed as missing after the attack. Police said some of those reported missing were likely among the victims whose bodies had already been recovered.
“As many as 38 people may still remain trapped under the debris,” police said.
Authorities said some bodies could not be identified visually, so specialists would collect biological samples for DNA identification.
The Nov. 2 strike came a day after a six-day US-brokered ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv in the Russian-controlled city of Oleshky, in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, ended on Sunday evening.
