KYIV: The death toll from a Russian strike on a southern Ukrainian village has risen to 50, Ukrainian authorities said on Friday, making it one of the deadliest attacks of the war.
The strike hit a former school building in the frontline village of Komyshuvakha, in the Zaporizhzhia region, last week, as civilians gathered for a weekly humanitarian aid distribution, according to Kyiv.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said eight more bodies had been recovered from beneath the rubble, bringing the confirmed death toll to 50. Search operations were continuing four days after the attack.
“The death toll from the Russian airstrike on the settlement of Komyshuvakha, Zaporizhzhia region, on November 2 has risen to 50,” the agency said.
Shelter Hit
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow had struck an underground shelter where people were sheltering.
The UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine condemned the attack earlier this week, saying the strike likely violated international humanitarian law.
The attack came after the longest ceasefire between the two sides had ended in the southern Kherson region.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions since February 2022.
Ukraine-Russia talks under US mediation are due to resume in Abu Dhabi next week, offering another diplomatic channel as fighting continues.
