File photo: A residential building lies in ruins after a Russian airstrike on Komyshuvakha, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region
The attack took place in the village of Komyshuvakha, where rescue operations have been underway for seven days following a Russian airstrike on November 2 that killed at least 55 people. The death toll had risen to 55 by November 7, while around 50 people remained missing, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence agency.
No personnel were injured, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (SES) said. “Absolute cynicism and brutality,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X, accusing Russian forces of deliberately targeting the site while emergency crews were working there. The attack on Sunday adds evidence to repeated Ukrainian accusations that Russian forces carry out successive strikes on the same location to hit emergency responders arriving after an initial attack, a tactic commonly described as a “double-tap” strike.
Many of the bodies recovered have yet to be identified, with DNA analysis underway. Among those killed were six emergency and police personnel, including two State Emergency Service workers and four police officers. Three of the police officers were killed near the former school. Three residents who also died were laid to rest in the city.
A Russian FPV drone struck emergency workers carrying out search and rescue operations at the site of an earlier airstrike in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region on Sunday, damaging specialised rescue equipment. At a farewell ceremony in Zaporizhzhia on Saturday, colleagues and relatives paid tribute to six police officers killed in the attack.