Footage obtained exclusively from Ukrainian authorities and analyzed by CNN reveals new details of how Russia attacked an underground bunker in southeastern Ukraine with a giant bunker-busting bomb.
The Nov. 2 attack on a village in southern Ukraine killed more than 50 people, making it the deadliest Russian attack on Ukraine in 2026 and the deadliest of the war. Those killed had gathered to receive food and aid, many of whom had fled after previous attacks.
CNN’s review of police body camera footage, weapon fragments, witness statements and geolocation video shows the bombing was part of a “double tap” attack, a military tactic in which a second attack is carried out immediately after the first.
The second airstrike occurred after emergency personnel arrived to respond to the first and villagers were evacuated to an underground school that had been converted into a community center.
The day before the strike, Komisvaka village council announced in two telegram posts that residents could collect bread and hygiene kits at schools from 10 a.m. to noon the next day.
Only 10 miles from the front lines, the school had become a lifeline for the hundreds of villagers who remained in Komisvach, serving as a relief distribution center, medical and social services center, and a place to sleep.
Officials told CNN that two bombs struck the school grounds between 9:45 a.m. and 9:50 a.m. local time on Nov. 2. Preliminary reports say one woman was killed and another, trapped under a concrete slab, was alive but injured.
Although footage of the initial attack was not available, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry and National Police gave CNN exclusive access to time-stamped body camera footage taken by local police officers Mykhailo Romanov and Dmytro Besedin. CNN watched the video on Zoom with representatives of Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs. Taken together, these recordings provide the clearest insight yet into how the attack unfolded. CNN was unable to release much of the footage due to police concerns for the victim’s family, but police posted online a short, edited clip taken from Romanoff’s body camera.
Bethedin’s body camera footage begins at 10:15 a.m. The building is badly damaged and debris covers the ground. Rescue teams are digging through the rubble to free a woman trapped under concrete. A fire engine still stands intact in the courtyard.
Fourteen minutes later, Romanoff’s body camera showed elderly residents gathered outside. The bicycle baskets are full, indicating that some people are already collecting relief supplies. One man told a police officer that he was ready to evacuate the village. At 10:32 a.m., an alert comes over Romanoff’s police radio. Another airstrike is on the way.
Rescuers have to choose between continuing to rescue the woman under the slab or taking shelter underground. Seconds later, another warning is issued for residents to evacuate. Both officers met local residents at the entrance to the bunker and descended three flights of stairs into the underground school, where relief supplies are being distributed. They are sitting in a room used by local police.
At 10:35 a.m., both body cameras capture the sound of an explosion. A flash of orange fills the screen before the image fades to black. Ukrainian police said Romanov and Besedin, who had served as regional police officers for more than a decade, were killed along with two other police officers. The recording captures their final moments and the groans of those in the room.
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Service said in a statement that the bunker collapsed after the explosion. The military said there were six more airstrikes shortly after.
CNN examined dozens of videos to reconstruct the attack and independently corroborated its account of multiple waves of attacks. Body camera footage shows a yellow building that serves as the entrance to the underground school, apparently undamaged despite the destruction nearby after the initial attack. Video taken after the bunker strike shows the same building badly pockmarked.
Trevor Ball, a weapons technology analyst at Weapons Research Services, who reviewed footage for CNN, said damage to nearby buildings visible before the second attack could have been caused by small Russian bombs, such as FAB-500s.
Body camera footage also recorded a “double tap,” a second attack after rescue workers arrived. Two first responders died in Komisvaka, officials said.
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Service identified the bomb that hit the bunker as a FAB-3000. The weapon weighs over 6,000 pounds and carries over 3,000 pounds of explosives. Russia has modernized these weapons with guidance kits, turning “dumb bombs” into precision-guided glide bombs. The FAB-3000 is designed to target fortified underground structures such as bunkers.
Video taken after the attack showed widespread devastation and a huge crater, which CNN geolocated between the bunker’s two entrances. Several hours later, smoke continued to rise from the crater. Footage that appears to show the epicenter of the explosion reveals a path through multiple layers of concrete into the bunker.
CNN exclusively obtained images and video from Ukraine’s Security Service SBU showing bomb disposal teams recovering ammunition fragments after the airstrike. According to the SBU video, the crater measures approximately 30 meters by 20 meters (98 feet by 67 feet). CNN was unable to make independent measurements because satellite images were not available. Two military experts who reviewed the footage said the crater’s size and damage were consistent with a 6,000-pound bomb such as the FAB-3000.
Explosive weapons expert Chris Cobb-Smith and Ball reviewed the SBU images. Among the metal fragments, a wing from a Russian UMPK glide bomb guidance kit was identified that matched the one installed on the FAB-3000. CNN separately confirmed that the fragment matched an online photo of such a kit.
Daniel Bell, head of the U.N. Human Rights Observatory in Ukraine, condemned the attack, noting that “the timing and location of the distribution of humanitarian aid was widely publicized.”
“Either the Russian military knew that a humanitarian distribution was taking place, or they failed to take the most basic steps to find out what was going on in the village they were planning to attack. In either case, this attack appears to violate the most basic principles of international humanitarian law,” Bell said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy linked the attack to the US midterm elections. “It is very telling that all this is happening on the day of the US Congressional elections. The Russians believe that the US is unaware of this signal from them. But such terrorism must be noticed and stopped,” he said.
Russia has consistently denied targeting civilians and has not commented on the attack itself. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement to state media that it had attacked Ukrainian military units in the area on the same day.
Volunteer first responder Vladislav Makhovsky arrived within hours of the airstrike and shared several videos with CNN. A fire truck was destroyed and a bicycle was shown lying in pieces amid the rubble, apparently left behind by people who came to collect relief supplies. One video shows a victim receiving CPR. Another photo shows people carrying away the bodies of the slain.
“Everything was on fire, even the rescue worker’s car was on fire, and it looked like a tornado had hit the area. Everything was destroyed. People were screaming, some people were dragged out. There was a woman there. Her arm was ripped off and she was seriously injured,” Makhovsky told CNN.
Makhovsky said the smoke was coming from the entrance to the underground school. Rescue workers were trying to get inside with breathing apparatus on.
“There was a huge crater where the school stood and we could see the floor slab… It was clear that the crater and its epicenter was directly above the underground school,” the volunteer first responder added. He told CNN that Russian drones had been in the skies for several days, disrupting rescue and recovery efforts.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said in a statement on November 8 that drones again targeted school workers. The service said no one was injured, but rescue equipment was damaged.
The underground school was built with EU funds and replaced the school destroyed in a Russian airstrike in July 2023. The school opened in October 2025. Video from the school showed colorful classrooms and a room lined with beds for young children to rest.
This school was intended to keep children learning despite the war. But within months, near constant shelling forced children to flee the village and schools closed. Local authorities renovated it as an administrative center and humanitarian hub for those who remained, either voluntarily or unable to leave. Makhovsky told CNN that, to his knowledge, the site has never been used for military purposes.
Video before and after the airstrike seen by CNN did not show any military infrastructure, but authorities confirmed that a military commander and a military paramedic died at the scene. A spokesman for Ukraine’s Army Group South told CNN that its commander, Major Vitaly Bevs, arrived at the aid distribution point “after the initial explosion” and was killed during a second bombardment.
Military paramedic Oleksandr Zalyshuk happened to be at the scene and began helping the civilians, according to a statement from his brigade.
The site was already under attack that year. In June, local media reported that five Russian first-person view (FPV) drones attacked construction workers who were distributing building materials to residents whose homes had been damaged by shelling.
Komysvaka is one of many villages on Ukraine’s fighting-torn front lines. Many buildings had already been damaged by shelling, and most of the prewar population of about 5,000 people had left.
About 200 residents, mostly elderly, remained, relying entirely on aid deliveries. The few remaining police officers and volunteers, like Makhovsky, carried rifles to shoot down FPV drones, which were a near-constant threat.
In 2023, this part of the Southern Front became the focus of Ukraine’s unsuccessful counteroffensive that attempted to cut Russia’s land bridge from Crimea to Donbas. Russia made small advances over the next few years, but repeatedly failed to capture Orikhiv, a key stronghold less than 32 miles to the south.
As of November 9, rescue teams were still digging through the rubble in Komisvach, searching for about 19 people who authorities believed were trapped under the rubble. Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Service announced that DNA samples were collected from relatives of the missing persons to help identify the recovered bodies.
Romanov and Besedin were buried on Saturday along with the other police officers killed in the attack, Mykhailo Budzhenko and Mykola Baranda. Their final moments, captured on body cameras, are key evidence in the SBU’s investigation into how a shelter built to keep civilians safe became a mass grave.
