Rescue teams 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 Yulia Barysheva, a spokesperson for the regional branch of Ukraine's State Emergency Service. Speaking at an inter-ministerial press conference reported by Ukrinform, Barysheva said roughly 50 more people remain unaccounted for as searches continue.
The strike hit on 2 November, targeting an ex-school that had been converted into a shelter and aid centre, Corriere della Sera reports. Earlier in the week, President Volodymyr Zelensky had put the death toll at 43; the figure has climbed steadily as workers clear the rubble. Police have released footage from the body camera of an officer who was killed, showing civilians being evacuated and the moments before a second impact brought the ceiling down on those sheltering inside.
Why it matters
The attack is among the deadliest single incidents of the war in recent months, and the rising count has sharpened Kyiv's appeals to partners as diplomatic activity intensifies. It also comes as Russian forces report incremental gains in the east, with the monitoring group DeepState noting Russian advances northwest of Kostiantynivka, at the southern edge of Ukraine's belt of fortified cities. Much of that city remains a grey zone, with fighting ongoing and positions unsettled, according to the same assessment.
Diplomacy gathers pace on several tracks
The strike has landed amid a burst of international contacts. NATO said representatives of the alliance, the United States, Ukraine, Europe and the European Union met at its Brussels residence ahead of planned trilateral talks between Washington, Kyiv and Moscow in Abu Dhabi. According to a NATO spokesperson, the meeting followed earlier discussions in Miami and Oslo and was intended to support a just and lasting end to the war.
The Kremlin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that Moscow views positively a meeting held at the White House involving Russian and Ukrainian delegations and US First Lady Melania Trump. He stressed the value of a constructive approach and readiness to continue humanitarian cooperation, citing an operation carried out in Oleshky in Ukraine's Kherson region. Peskov also said dialogue with Europeans will be unavoidable once talks turn to the future of Europe's security architecture, arguing that mutual security arrangements between Russia and Ukraine cannot be settled without them.
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's special envoy for economic cooperation and foreign investment, has not yet returned from the United States and has not briefed the Russian president on his meeting with Donald Trump, Peskov said. Trump announced on 5 November that he had received Dmitriev but did not disclose what was discussed. Dmitriev had been in Washington for an event hosted by Melania Trump on the recent humanitarian mission to Oleshky, alongside human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova.
A spokesman for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Stefan Kornelius, said Trump telephoned Merz overnight and that Berlin maintains constant contact with Washington. He said the E3 countries and other European partners were kept informed about the previous day's meeting.
Meloni presses for an EU negotiator
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said European Council President António Costa had written to her confirming that space would be found at the informal European Council in Dublin to discuss the need to formally designate an EU negotiator at the peace table for Ukraine. Speaking on the sidelines of a visit to the Eicma motorcycle show, Meloni thanked Costa and said he had expressed understanding of and agreement with the need to open the debate. She described the proposal as a pragmatic question on which many colleagues concur and said she was confident a solution could be found.
Zelensky raises prospect of online voting
In an interview with the German broadcaster ZDF, Zelensky said holding elections while soldiers cannot vote would be unfair, describing it as "100% unfair" and arguing that the soldier's role is the most important in wartime because troops risk their lives. He suggested online voting could be a realistic option, but said parliament would then have to seek and find a solution.
Air defences and bomb threats across Europe
Russia's defence ministry said on Telegram that air defences intercepted and destroyed 142 Ukrainian drones overnight over the Kursk, Belgorod, Tula, Oryol, Rostov, Astrakhan, Moscow and Krasnodar regions, over Crimea — which Russia annexed in 2014 — and over the Black Sea and Sea of Azov.
Separately, bomb alerts disrupted travel and media across Europe. A flight bound for Rome was diverted, and television, radio and newspaper offices in Dublin were evacuated, according to Corriere della Sera.
What to watch next: whether rescue teams in Komyshuvakha account for the remaining missing residents, and whether the EU moves to name a negotiator when leaders meet informally in Dublin.
