Rescue crews continued work after Monday’s attack on a humanitarian aid point in Komyshuvakha, Ukraine, where 26 people had been reported killed, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy said the site was a school in the Zaporizhzhia region where people collected humanitarian aid each Monday. In an address posted at 2:23 p.m. ET (19:23 UTC) Nov. 2, he said five people were hospitalized and others remained beneath rubble.
The reported toll changed during the rescue operation. Zelenskyy’s first update cited 18 deaths; the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU) later reported 24, before his address gave a figure of 26 people reported killed.
SESU said two rescuers and four police officers were among the dead. Zelenskyy said most victims were civilians, including people seeking aid and others who came to help after the initial strike. He also said a later strike hit a shelter where people had taken cover, and called the attack “utterly horrific” in a post on X.
RFE/RL reported that Russian officials had not immediately commented. The updated toll followed Zelenskyy’s initial report of 18 deaths.
