World

Russian Drone Hits Rescue Team at Zaporizhzhia Bombing Site

By Prisha Patnaik

A Russian FPV drone struck emergency workers conducting search and rescue at the site of a previous airstrike in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region on Sunday, damaging specialised rescue equipment. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said no personnel were injured. The attack occurred in the village of Komyshuvakha, where rescue operations have been underway for seven days after a Russian airstrike on November 2 that killed at least 55 people. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said more people could still be trapped under the rubble of the former school and shelter hit in the earlier attack. "Absolute cynicism and brutality," Zelenskyy wrote on X, accusing Russian forces of deliberately targeting the site while emergency crews were working there. The November 2 strike hit a former school used as a humanitarian aid distribution centre and shelter for residents of Komyshuvakha and neighbouring villages. The facility was struck by multiple Russian guided bombs as people gathered for assistance. The death toll had risen to 55 by November 7, with about 50 people still missing, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence agency. Many bodies recovered have yet to be identified, with DNA analysis underway. Among those killed were six emergency and police personnel, including two State Emergency Service workers and four police officers; three of the police officers were killed near the former school. At a farewell ceremony in Zaporizhzhia on Saturday, colleagues and relatives paid tribute to the six police officers killed in the attack, and three residents who also died were laid to rest in the city. The Sunday attack adds evidence to repeated Ukrainian accusations that Russian forces carry out successive strikes on the same location to hit emergency responders arriving after an initial attack, a tactic commonly described as a "double‑tap" strike.