The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said on November 3 that a Russian strike on a humanitarian aid distribution site in Komyshuvakha, Zaporizhzhia region, the previous day may have violated fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. Several aerial bombs struck a school building near which civilians had gathered to receive aid.
Local authorities had publicly announced that aid would be distributed at the school from 10 a.m. to noon on November 2. According to the mission, the announcement appeared on a channel with almost 5,000 subscribers. The mission's head, Danielle Bell, said Russian forces either knew about the distribution or had failed to take the necessary steps to establish what was happening at the intended target. This is an assessment by a UN body, not a court finding that a war crime occurred.
Local officials said nine aerial bombs were dropped in two waves. Mission staff examined photographs and videos of the aftermath and found that the damage was consistent with the use of powerful aerial bombs. The mission did not claim to have independently confirmed the number of munitions dropped.
By the evening of November 3, authorities were reporting at least 31 civilian deaths and five injuries. The mission was still establishing the casualty figures. A separate statement by the UN humanitarian coordinator referred to at least 29 civilians killed, two rescue workers and four police officers killed in subsequent strikes, and almost 50 people reported missing. Those figures were reported at different stages and cannot be combined into one verified final death toll.
The monitoring mission said glide-bomb strikes had already killed at least 478 civilians and injured 2,667 across Ukraine since the start of 2026, accounting for 16% of all civilian casualties it had verified over that period. In June, another strike on an aid distribution site in Komyshuvakha injured four people, according to the UN. The organization subsequently suspended aid distributions there because of the danger.