Komyshuvakha underground school was built to code but failed under superheavy Russian bombs

Russian forces struck the school on Nov. 2 while humanitarian aid was being distributed there, Ivan Fedorov, head of Ukraine’s State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development, said on Nov. 3.

Fedorov said all regions had received the same centrally developed project for underground facilities. The project was created by an international organization and provided to Ukraine free of charge. The school in Komyshuvakha was built according to the corresponding standards, commissioned, and handed over to the local community.

He said Russian forces attacked the site with nine guided aerial bombs. Some weighed 3 tons and contained more than 1.4 tons of explosives. Fedorov said that was approximately three times the power of a typical ballistic missile. However, underground schools being built in Ukraine are not designed to withstand direct hits from bombs of such power.

Thirty-three people were killed and more than 50 others may remain trapped under the rubble after the Russian airstrike on Komyshuvakha, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a news conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin earlier the same day.

Zelenskyy said Russian forces carried out several strikes on the school, where humanitarian aid was being distributed. After the first strike, he said, Russia dropped nine more aerial bombs on the shelter containing civilians.