Aid site and shelter hit
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Monday's attacks "utterly horrific" and accused Russian forces of knowingly striking an aid distribution site. Residents who remained in Komyshuvakha collected assistance at the school every week, he said.
"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 wrote on social media.
DW reported that Russian aircraft dropped more than 10 glide bombs during the attacks. The village lies about 35 kilometers east of the city of Zaporizhzhia and roughly a dozen kilometers from the front line.
Ukraine's State Emergency Service, known as DSNS, said the attacks damaged the school building and destroyed a gymnasium, an outbuilding and a fire truck, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Komyshuvakha has been considered a front-line settlement since November 2025 because of repeated Russian guided aerial bomb attacks, according to the Zaporizhzhia Investigation Center, cited by the Kyiv Independent. Heavy Russian airstrikes have also repeatedly hit the wider Zaporizhzhia region over the past several months.
The Kyiv Independent reported that Russia frequently uses guided aerial bombs known as KABs. Wing kits give the bombs a range of tens of kilometers, enabling aircraft to launch them from beyond the reach of air defense systems.
Emergency personnel among those killed
DSNS identified the two rescue workers killed as Denys Konovalenko and Oleksii Sushchevskyi, both 44. They were reportedly caught in a follow-up, or "double-tap," strike. Such attacks hit a location again after an initial strike and can target responders arriving to help.
Konovalenko had spent nearly 12 years in Ukraine's civil protection service. Sushchevskyi had served with fire and rescue units in Zaporizhzhia since 2013. Both had received state awards for their service, DSNS said.
The service also reported that four police officers were among the 26 people killed.
Attacks came after humanitarian ceasefire expired
Less than 24 hours before the Komyshuvakha attacks, a six-day humanitarian ceasefire had expired in and around Oleshky, in neighboring Kherson. The localized pause was brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump with Pope Leo XIV's involvement.
The ceasefire began on October 27, 2026, and ended at 9 p.m. GMT on November 1. Reuters, in a report carried by the Raleigh News & Observer, described it as the longest local pause in fighting since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Russia refused Ukraine's offer to extend it, according to Ukrainian officials cited by DW.
Melania Trump said nearly 800 people were evacuated from Russian-occupied Oleshky during the ceasefire. In a separate operation, Ukraine's military evacuated 167 civilians from the wider Kherson region, including 22 children and 21 people with limited mobility.
Zelenskyy said the temporary ceasefire had offered an opportunity to pursue further steps toward a possible agreement ending Russia's invasion. In his assessment, Monday's attacks instead demonstrated Moscow's unwillingness to reduce hostilities.
"This is yet further proof that Russia does not want any kind of de-escalation or any real justice... With these killings, Russia has sent a completely opposite signal; Russia is counting on further killings," he said.
