Russian glide bombs kill at least 31 at Zaporizhzhia aid centre

Russian forces struck a school serving as a weekly humanitarian aid distribution point in the village of Komyshuvakha in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region on Monday, November 2, 2026. Regional officials reported the death toll at 31 by Tuesday, with five people injured and nearly 50 still missing. Two rescue workers and four police officers numbered among the dead. The attack used multiple FAB-3000 glide bombs in what Ukrainian authorities described as a double-tap sequence: an initial strike followed by further bombs after rescuers arrived.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address that residents gathered every Monday to collect aid packages at the school, which no longer held classes because the village sits close to the front line. He stated that Russian forces could not have been unaware of the routine. Mykhailo Semikin, acting head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, called the scale of the tragedy one of the worst for civilian casualties in the region since the full-scale invasion began. Rescue teams continued searching rubble on Tuesday, pulling additional bodies from the collapsed structure.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service confirmed that rescuers Denys Konovalenko and Oleksii Sushchevskyi, both 44, died in the secondary strike. Both had long service records and left families. The attack destroyed a gymnasium and outbuildings and damaged the main school structure. Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed the strikes targeted Ukrainian military units in the area and killed up to 25 servicemen while destroying vehicles and an electronic warfare station. Ukrainian and independent reports found no credible evidence of a major military presence at the aid site.

The bombing occurred hours after a brief ceasefire in parts of the region ended and coincided with overnight Russian missile and drone attacks on energy infrastructure across nine Ukrainian regions. In Kharkiv, a combined strike wounded at least 62 people and damaged a medical facility. Zelensky noted that the barrage arrived as US midterm voting took place and as Washington announced trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the United States in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11. He described the aid-centre strike as further proof that Russia shows no interest in de-escalation.

Three days of mourning were declared in Zaporizhzhia. Local authorities said the bombs carried nearly 1.5 tonnes of explosives each. The village of Komyshuvakha lies southeast of the regional capital and remains within range of Russian glide bombs launched from occupied territory. Residents who stayed behind rely on weekly aid deliveries for food and basic supplies. The collapse of the school shelter trapped many who had sought cover after the first blasts.

The incident adds to a pattern of strikes on civilian infrastructure and gathering points. UN agencies have previously recorded elevated civilian casualties in Ukraine. The timing places the attack just before planned diplomatic meetings that cover security arrangements, humanitarian measures and possible de-escalation. Ukrainian officials have urged partners to strengthen air defence so that such strikes become harder to carry out. Russian statements continue to frame the targets as military, while Ukrainian accounts emphasise the known civilian use of the site on Mondays.

Search operations continued into Tuesday as the missing count remained high. Hospitals treated the injured, including additional rescue personnel. The contrast between the diplomatic calendar and the ground reality in Zaporizhzhia highlights the gap that still separates announcements of talks from reductions in daily attacks on populated areas and aid points.