29 killed in Komyshuvakha bombing of aid shelter

A total of 29 people died when Russian forces bombed a school shelter in Komyshuvakha, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, on Nov. 2.

The settlement’s center was targeted in two waves involving at least nine FAB-3000 guided aerial bombs. The shelter sustained direct hits during the second wave, which occurred after police and State Emergency Service personnel had already arrived on the scene. Authorities confirmed that 48 individuals remain missing as search and rescue operations continue.

Among the dead were four police officers, two rescue workers, and staff from the local Administrative Services Center. The National Police of Ukraine stated that the officers were guiding residents to the underground shelter when three-tonne high-explosive bombs struck the structure.

The officers identified as killed include Majors Mykhailo Buzhenko and Mykola Balanda, along with Captains Mykhailo Romanov and Dmytro Biesiedin. Buzhenko served 21 years in law enforcement as a senior district police officer in the prevention sector of Police Department No. 1. Balanda, a senior detective in the criminal police sector of Department No. 2, had 23 years of service. Romanov and Biesiedin worked as community police officers in Balanda’s unit, where they had maintained public order in district settlements for over a decade. Police noted that three of the four officers had been displaced by the occupation of parts of the oblast but continued serving in frontline communities.

The State Emergency Service identified the two rescuers as Denys Konovalenko and Oleksii Sushchevskyi, both 44 years old. Konovalenko had worked for the service for nearly 12 years, while Sushchevskyi served more than 13 years in Zaporizhzhia fire and rescue units. Both men held the presidential For the Defence of Ukraine award, and Sushchevskyi also possessed the Defender of the Motherland medal. The couple left behind wives and four children, including sons aged 18 and 19 and daughters aged 12 and eight.

Olha Tverdenko, an employee of the Administrative Services Center, was also killed. She traveled to Komyshuvakha every Monday to sort and distribute bread and grocery kits to residents. Tetiana Ivanivna, the head of the humanitarian headquarters, and Nataliia Karapetian, a mother of three and wife of community head Yurii Karapetian, were also among the victims.

Kateryna Lytvyn, a writer from Komyshuvakha, posted on social media that she had personally known two of the slain officers. She described their work in frontline villages from the early stages of the war, which included evacuating wounded civilians, detaining looters, and clearing rubble. Lytvyn also mourned the destruction of the settlement where she was born.