Rescuers in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region have recovered the bodies of 53 people from the site of a Russian air strike on the village of Komyshuvakha, according to Sky TG24. The attack took place on Monday, Nov. 2, hitting a building where humanitarian aid was being handed out to local residents. Around 50 more people are still unaccounted for, and search work at the site is ongoing.
The updated figure was given by Yulia Barysheva, a spokesperson for the regional branch of Ukraine's State Emergency Service, at an inter-ministerial press conference, Sky TG24 reports, citing the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform.
Why it matters
The Komyshuvakha strike is one of the deadliest single incidents of the war in recent months, and the casualty count has continued to climb as crews work through the rubble. That the target was a humanitarian distribution point has made the attack a focal point in Kyiv's account of the war, and the missing-person count means the final toll may still rise.
The strike came as Moscow pressed on with a broader campaign against Ukraine's power network, and as diplomatic contacts between Washington and Moscow produced their own headlines. The result is a week in which the human cost on the ground and the maneuvering over a possible negotiated track have unfolded side by side.
Energy sites hit in several regions
Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces used Fab-3000 aerial bombs against a power plant near the city of Sumy in eastern Ukraine, Sky TG24 reports. The ministry also said it struck a Ukrainian troop contingent in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Energy infrastructure in the Kyiv and Mykolaiv regions was also targeted. A official said facilities in the Bila Tserkva and Obukhiv districts were damaged in the attack, according to Sky TG24.
In the Rivne region, one man was killed in a Russian attack in the Sarny district, the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Koval, said. Sky TG24 reported his statement.
Ukrainian drones hit refinery in southern Russia
Overnight, Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery in southern Russia, starting fires and causing explosions, Sky TG24 reports. According to the Ukrainian channel Exilenova Plus, a fire broke out at the Afipsky refinery in Russia's southern Krasnodar Territory. A further wave of attacks hit the site in the early hours of the morning, the channel said, as reported by Sky TG24.
Diplomacy: Meloni, Merz, and the Kremlin's view
On the diplomatic side, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said European Council President Antonio Costa replied to her the previous evening with a letter promising space for a discussion on Ukraine at the informal European Council in Dublin. Meloni, speaking on the sidelines of the Eicma motorcycle show in Milan, said she thanked Costa and that the letter acknowledged the need to open the debate. She said she had raised a practical question on which many colleagues agree, and that she was confident a solution could be found, Sky TG24 reports.
In Berlin, a spokesman for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Stefan Kornelius, said the chancellor spoke with the U.S. president overnight, according to Sky TG24. Asked at a press conference about the previous day's meeting between Donald Trump and Kirill Dmitriev, Vladimir Putin's special envoy, Kornelius said Trump had called Merz. He said contacts with the U.S. government are constant and that the E3 countries and other European partners were informed of the meeting.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by Tass and reported by Sky TG24, said European governments have shown themselves unprepared because they still cannot agree on who is authorized to speak with Russia on their behalf. He said they cannot even decide who may talk to Moscow for them, describing what he called prolonged indecision.
Peskov also said dialogue with Europeans will be necessary once discussion turns to the future of Europe's security system. He said that when the question of mutual security between Russia and Ukraine is addressed, it will be impossible to proceed without the Europeans at some point, and that a dialogue with them will therefore be needed, according to Sky TG24.
Peskov further said Dmitriev has not yet returned from the United States and has not reported the results of his meeting with Trump to Putin. He said there was no information on the details yet, Sky TG24 reports. Trump announced on Nov. 5 that he had received Dmitriev but did not disclose what was discussed. The envoy was in Washington to take part, alongside human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova, in an event organized by first lady Melania Trump on a recent humanitarian mission to Olesky in the Kherson region.
Sky TG24 also reported that representatives of NATO, the United States, Ukraine, Europe and the European Union met at the NATO official residence in Brussels ahead of planned trilateral talks between the United States, Ukraine and the Russian Federation in Abu Dhabi. The meeting followed discussions in Miami and Oslo and was aimed at promoting a just and lasting outcome, according to the report.
What to watch
Search operations in Komyshuvakha are continuing, and the confirmed death toll may rise further as crews clear the site.
