Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) named six Russian airmen it accuses of taking part in a Nov. 2 attack on a school used to distribute aid, where Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported 55 deaths.
HUR identified Col. Fedor Zubakov as the officer it says planned the operation. It named Capt. Sergei Yeliseyev, Capt. Dmitry Zverev, Senior Lt. Rodion Plotnikov, Senior Lt. Nikita Ignatyev, Senior Lt. Maksim Sokolenko and Lt. Vadim Perekhrest as pilots involved in bomb drops. HUR attributed the operation to four Su-34 aircraft and said the crew of one other Russian aircraft was still being identified.
The State Emergency Service reported 55 deaths on Nov. 7 and said recovery crews brought nine more victims out of the rubble during the preceding 24 hours. HUR’s update that day gave a toll of 53. The two statements do not establish a settled final toll.
The U.N. in Ukraine put the civilian toll from the morning strikes at 29 or more. It said aid-seeking residents and local administration employees accounted for most of those deaths, and reported that later attacks at the site killed two rescuers and four police officers.
The emergency service said search and recovery crews remained at work while facing the risk of further strikes.
