--- title: "In Komyshuvakha, Monday Was Aid Day. The Russian Bombs Came With the Crowd" description: "At least 26 die at a Zaporizhzhia school turned aid hub, as Washington schedules Russia–Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi for November 10–11" author: "Jan Sokol" published: 2026-11-02T18:23:02Z modified: 2026-11-03T04:26:21Z url: https://rews.cc/a/in-komyshuvakha-monday-was-aid-day-the-russian-bombs-came-wi-27f401 language: en tags: ["ukraine", "war", "russia", "peace-talks", "aid", "world"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # In Komyshuvakha, Monday Was Aid Day. The Russian Bombs Came With the Crowd *At least 26 die at a Zaporizhzhia school turned aid hub, as Washington schedules Russia–Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi for November 10–11* By Jan Sokol · November 2, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/in-komyshuvakha-monday-was-aid-day-the-russian-bombs-came-wi-27f401 ## In brief - A Russian strike hit a school used as a shelter and weekly aid point in Komyshuvakha, Zaporizhzhia region, on November 2 - Ukrainian officials said at least 26 were killed; Ukrainska Pravda reported 24. The dead included two rescuers and four police officers - Zelenskyy described two waves of aerial bombs; Zaporizhzhia official Regina Kharchenko said 27 people were missing - US envoy Steve Witkoff announced Ukraine–Russia talks with the US in Abu Dhabi on November 10–11 - Zelenskyy said the strike showed Russia rejects de-escalation and warned of a large attack timed to the US midterms There is a school in the village of Komyshuvakha, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, that has had no pupils for some time. The village sits too close to the front line for children to study there, so the building took on other work. It became a shelter. Once a week it was also the place where aid packages were handed out. That day was Monday, and the residents who had stayed in Komyshuvakha knew to come on Monday. On Monday, November 2, they came. So did the bombs. At least 26 people were killed, [Al Jazeera reported](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/2/russian-bombing-of-ukrainian-aid-centre-kills-24-people-zelenskyy), citing Ukrainian officials. The Guardian gave the same figure, [as UA.News relayed](https://ua.news/en/war-vs-rf/udar-po-komishuvasi-zabrav-shchonaimenshe-26-zhittiv-the-guardian). Not every count agreed: *Ukrainska Pravda* [put the dead at 24](https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/11/02/8060924/) in its report on the aerial bomb attack on the school. When the rubble is still being searched, the number of dead is a moving thing, and none of these figures is likely to be the last. ## Two strikes President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who explained what the school had become, also described how it was destroyed. The first strike, he said, came just as people were arriving: “a few aerial bombs.” Then came a second, with more bombs, this time aimed at the shelter. He called it “a vile terrorist strike.” ![A rustic illustration shows a loaf of bread wrapped in paper among rubble outside a ruined building with broken windows and an overturned chair.](https://rews.cc/img/0321c977c868737a2f5d1b3e10d8a6a20f0ef613.webp) Among the dead were two members of a rescue crew and four police officers. Five people were taken to hospital, two of them rescuers. Regina Kharchenko, secretary of the Zaporizhzhia City Council, said 27 people were missing, and rescuers were trying to reach those trapped under the rubble. Russia did not immediately comment. There is an old cruelty in the second strike. The first one kills the people who came for bread. The second finds those who ran for cover, and the men who come afterwards to dig. Zelenskyy said Russia must have known about the gatherings. They happened every week, on the same day, in the same building. This is a reflection, not a finding: a village that keeps a regular day for its food also keeps a schedule anyone watching can read, and in a war fought with drones and glide bombs, someone is always watching. ## A calendar in Abu Dhabi On the same Monday, a different kind of schedule was announced. Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy, said Ukrainian and Russian delegations would meet in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, on November 10 and 11, in a three-way format with the United States. The agenda, as announced, covers “post-war security agreements, de-escalation, humanitarian measures, and ending the war.” ![Three chairs surround a green round table split by a jagged red fissure extending across the floor, with three water glasses and a desert landscape beyond.](https://rews.cc/img/443e2b92ba92737e9fd58b8851999855cac3cf1c.webp) Vladimir Putin agreed to the talks after [receiving Witkoff in St Petersburg](https://rews.cc/a/between-oslo-and-st-petersburg-an-envoy-carries-hope-moscow--30227e) on October 21. American negotiators want a breakthrough before winter. The war is in its fifth year. The last talks mediated by Washington were held in February, before the US-Israel war on Iran began and pulled attention elsewhere. Zelenskyy treated the bombing of Komyshuvakha as an answer given in advance. It proved, he said, that Moscow does not want “any kind of de-escalation, any real justice.” He recalled the humanitarian mission to occupied Oleshky the week before, [brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump](https://rews.cc/a/one-town-two-peacemakers-the-first-lady-and-the-pope-both-cl-dce09b), as an opening that Russia had thrown away. “But Russia continues to kill people,” he said. He also passed on a warning. Ukrainian intelligence, he said, expected a new “massive attack” on energy and logistics networks, timed to coincide with Tuesday’s US midterm elections. He asked Washington to put enough pressure on Moscow that “it has no alternative but to end this war.” ![A woodcut-style electricity pylon suspends a glowing light bulb and a bomb above a rural landscape, with power lines leading toward village houses.](https://rews.cc/img/7463d16819c1b59c76fda5d298116b26694f56d7.webp) ## The rest of the night Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha took the dead of Komyshuvakha into another argument entirely. The Court of Arbitration for Sport had ordered Russia reinstated in major ice hockey tournaments, and Sybiha cited the attack in opposing Russia’s return to elite sport. What Russia deserves, he said, is “condemnation, isolation, and consequences.” So the same day brought bodies in a village gymnasium and a ruling on who may play hockey. The institutions of the world go on keeping their own calendars. The war did not stop for the dead. Drone strikes injured 12 people in the Kharkiv region and five in Odesa. Russia said it had shot down 212 Ukrainian drones overnight, and Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, governor of the Samara region, said an attack there had been repelled. November 2 was a Monday. The next Monday falls on November 9, the day before the delegations are due to sit down in Abu Dhabi. In Komyshuvakha, the building where the packages were handed out has been bombed, and on the evening of the strike 27 people were still listed as missing.