Nine heavy bombs strike aid shelter in Zaporizhzhia
Four police officers and two veteran rescuers are among the 29 confirmed dead in the Komyshuvakha bombing.
By Jenna Mitchell ·
The death toll from the bombing of a school in Komyshuvakha, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, stands at at least 29, with 48 people still missing as of Nov. 3. The attack occurred on Nov. 2 when Russian forces targeted the center of the settlement.
The strike consisted of two waves involving at least nine FAB-3000 guided aerial bombs. The shelter, located in the underground level of the school, was hit during the second wave. At that time, police and State Emergency Service personnel had already arrived on the scene to assist residents.
The National Police of Ukraine identified four officers killed in the blast. Majors Mykhailo Buzhenko and Mykola Balanda served in the Zaporizhzhia District Police Department for 21 and 23 years, respectively. Captains Mykhailo Romanov and Dmytro Biesiedin were community police officers in the same unit. Police reported that three of the four had been displaced by the occupation of part of the oblast but continued serving frontline communities.
The State Emergency Service named Denys Konovalenko and Oleksii Sushchevskyi as the two rescuers killed. Both men were 44 years old. Konovalenko had worked for the service for nearly 12 years, while Sushchevskyi spent more than 13 years in local fire and rescue units. Both held the presidential For the Defence of Ukraine award, and Sushchevskyi also held the Defender of the Motherland medal.
Konovalenko and Sushchevskyi leave behind wives and four children. Their sons are 18 and 19, and their daughters are 12 and 8. Administrative Services Centre employee Olha Tverdenko was also killed. She traveled to Komyshuvakha every Monday to sort and distribute bread and grocery kits to remaining residents.
Tetiana Ivanivna, head of the humanitarian headquarters, and Nataliia Karapetian, wife of community head Yurii Karapetian, were also among the dead. Karapetian was a mother of three. Komyshuvakha writer Kateryna Lytvyn stated on social media that she had known two of the officers personally. She described their work in frontline villages, which included evacuating wounded civilians and removing rubble.
