Death toll from Russian airstrike on Ukraine aid distribution site rises to 53

Search and rescue operations in Komyshuvakha, a settlement in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, have continued for five days following the November 2 attack, regional military administration head Mykhailo Semikin said.

"Already 53 people have been killed as a result of the Russian strike on Komyshuvakha on November 2," Semikin wrote on Telegram.

Russian forces struck the school with aerial bombs while humanitarian aid was being distributed to local residents.

According to Ukrainian authorities, Russian forces subsequently dropped nine more bombs on a shelter where people had taken refuge after the initial strike.

On November 5, Semikin said authorities had located seven people whose relatives had lost contact with them following the attack. He said rescue efforts were continuing despite the threat of further shelling and drone strikes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously said Russian forces could not have been unaware that residents remaining in Komyshuvakha regularly received humanitarian aid at the school.

The initially reported death toll was 18. Authorities have since revised the figure upward as rescue operations continue.