Ukraine war latest: Komyshuvakha search operation enters 5th day as death toll rises to 53

Key developments on Nov. 5:

• Death toll from Russian strike on Komyshuvakha rises to 53 as search operation enters 5th day
• Ukraine returns 13 children from Russian occupation, NGO says
• Ukrainian forces target oil refinery as explosions reported across southern Russia
• Ukraine strikes 2 Russian ammunition depots, other military targets in occupied territories, General Staff says
• Ukraine's ground drones complete over 30,000 missions in record month for robot warfare

The death toll from Russia's Nov. 2 aerial bomb attack on the village of Komyshuvakha in Zaporizhzhia Oblast has risen to 53, Governor Mykhaylo Semikin said on Nov. 6.

Search and rescue operations at the site have continued for five days, with the final death toll yet to be established. The strike was the deadliest Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia Oblast since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Russian forces struck the front-line village several times on Nov. 2, initially hitting a school building where local residents had gathered to receive humanitarian aid. One of the bombs was a 3-ton FAB-3000, containing more than 1,000 kilograms of explosives.

Following the initial strike, Russian forces dropped another nine aerial bombs on a shelter where civilians and rescue workers had taken refuge, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Two rescue workers and a military medic who rushed to help the wounded were among those killed.

Ukraine returns 13 children from Russian occupation, NGO says

Ukraine has returned 13 children and teenagers from Russian-occupied territories over the past week, Mykola Kuleba, founder of the humanitarian organization Save Ukraine, announced on Nov. 6.

"We will not stop as long as thousands of Ukrainian children remain trapped in a hostile system that seeks to break them every day," Kuleba said.

According to Kuleba, the children had endured threats, psychological pressure, and life-threatening conditions under Russian occupation.

The operation was carried out with the support of partners under President Volodymyr Zelensky's Bring Kids Back UA initiative. It comes amid Russia's ongoing efforts to indoctrinate and militarize Ukrainian children living under occupation.

Among those brought back was 13-year-old Andrii, who lived in a town where Russian combat drones deliberately targeted civilians, according to Kuleba. Russian occupation authorities threatened to strip his parents of custody unless he attended a Russian-run school. There, he was subjected to propaganda, forced to draw Russian soldiers, and required to take ideological tests.

Ukrainian forces target oil refinery as explosions reported across southern Russia

A Russian oil refinery was set ablaze as a Ukrainian drone attack set off fires and explosions across southern Russia overnight on Nov. 6, monitoring channels reported.

A fire broke out at the Afipsky Oil Refinery in the southern region of Krasnodar Krai, according to Ukrainian channel Exilenova Plus.

Another wave of strikes targeted the site in the early morning hours, and additional explosions were reported outside the city of Krasnodar, the outlet said.

Explosions and fires were also reported in the nearby Adygea Republic, according to Exilenova Plus.

Local authorities have not commented on the attack at the time of writing, and the details could not be immediately verified by the Kyiv Independent.

The Afipsky Oil Refinery, one of the largest in the region, was sanctioned by the EU in April for its role in Russia's war against Ukraine.

Ukraine strikes 2 Russian ammunition depots, other military targets in occupied territories, General Staff says

Ukrainian forces struck two Russian ammunition depots in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, as well as a drone command post and a fuel and lubricants depot in Donetsk Oblast, on Nov. 5-6, Ukraine's General Staff said.

Ukrainian forces regularly strike military targets in Russian-occupied territories to weaken Moscow's ability to wage war.

The ammunition depots were located near the town of Melitopol and the settlement of Khliborobne in the Russian-occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, according to the statement.

Ukrainian forces also struck a Russian drone command post near the town of Chasiv Yar and a fuel and lubricants depot near Luhanske, both in the Russian-occupied part of Donetsk Oblast, the military said.

The strikes were intended to weaken Russian forces' firepower and disrupt supplies to their units, according to the General Staff.

Ukraine's ground drones complete over 30,000 missions in record month for robot warfare

The Ukrainian military's growing fleet of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) completed a record 31,398 missions in October, the Defense Ministry said on Nov. 6, citing data from the military's e-points system.

The record month reflects how, over the past year, ground drones have gone from experimental technology to battlefield essential for Ukraine's brigades.

The October mission count, which includes logistics and evacuation missions, is over four times higher than the 7,511 missions recorded in January 2026.

Because of the increasing saturation of Russian first-person view (FPV) drones in the air, the new "kill zone" near the front line has effectively barred traditional vehicles from conducting logistics runs, rotations, and casualty evacuations as they did in the earlier years of the full-scale war.

Over 2025 and 2026, seeing the need to keep front-line logistics running, Ukraine invested heavily in ground drones, with UGV companies and battalions appearing in almost every Ukrainian brigade.