KOMYSHUVAKHA, Ukraine — Russian forces bombed a village in southeastern Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region on Monday, killing 18 people and injuring five, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Zelenskyy, writing on Telegram, said Russian forces initially dropped aerial bombs on a school in the village of Komyshuvakha that was being used for distributing humanitarian assistance.

Source: Reuters

"After the first air strike, there was a repeat strike with nine more bombs, directly on the shelter where people were gathered," Zelenskyy wrote. "The Russians could not have been unaware that every week residents who have remained in Komyshuvakha were receiving assistance aid right there." He added: "This is yet further proof that Russia does not want any kind of de-escalation, any real justice."

Source: Reuters

The BBC reported that at least 18 people waiting to collect humanitarian aid were killed, five more were injured and another 27 remain missing, with rescue teams still searching the wreckage amid fears the toll will rise. Regional head Mykhailo Semikin said at least nine aerial bombs, each weighing 3,000 kilograms, hit the village, according to the BBC's reporting, and a video posted by Zelenskyy showed a huge crater as rescue workers picked through the debris.

Source: BBC News

The Kyiv Independent likewise reported a series of guided aerial bomb strikes on Komyshuvakha on November 2, hitting the school used to distribute humanitarian aid and an underground shelter, with at least 18 killed, five wounded and 27 missing under the rubble, according to local authorities.

Source: The Kyiv Independent

All of the casualty figures and the account of the strike sequence come from Ukrainian officials, including the president and regional authorities. No Russian response was included in the reports carried by Reuters or the BBC, and the claims could not be independently verified from the reporting available on Monday.

A day after the war's longest local ceasefire expired

The bombing came a day after the expiry of the six-day humanitarian ceasefire around the Russian-held town of Oleshky in the Kherson region — the longest local pause in fighting since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 — and as strikes continued elsewhere along the front line. The village of Komyshuvakha lies southeast of the regional capital, also called Zaporizhzhia.