CNN analysis reveals double-tap bomb strike turned Ukrainian shelter into mass grave

CNN reviewed police body-camera recordings, weapon fragments and geolocated videos to detail a November 2 attack on an underground school in the village of Komyshuvakha, southeastern Ukraine. The school, converted into a community centre and aid distribution point, was hit by a massive FAB-3000 glide bomb, a weapon weighing over 6,000 pounds and designed to destroy fortified underground structures.

The strike was part of a "double tap" tactic, with a second bomb detonating moments after emergency responders arrived on the scene. Body-camera footage from local police officers Mykhailo Romanov and Dmytro Besedin captured the initial damage, the arrival of rescuers, a warning of an incoming airstrike, and the subsequent blast that collapsed the bunker and killed the two officers along with two other police personnel.

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Service identified the weapon as a FAB-3000 and reported that six additional airstrikes hit the site shortly after the collapse. Analysts from Armament Research Services and explosive-munitions experts confirmed the bomb’s size and the presence of a UMPK glide-bomb guidance kit in the recovered fragments.

"The timing and location of the humanitarian distribution was well publicized," said Danielle Bell, head of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.

"Either the Russian armed forces knew that there was a humanitarian distribution taking place, or they failed to take the most basic steps to find out what was happening in this village they were planning to attack. In either case, this attack seems to have violated the most fundamental principles of international humanitarian law," Bell added.

Volunteer first responder Vladyslav Makhovsky described the aftermath, noting extensive destruction, a large crater covering the school’s entrance and ongoing drone activity that hampered rescue efforts. A subsequent drone strike on November 8 damaged rescue equipment but caused no injuries.

The underground school, built with EU funding and opened in October 2025, had previously served as a classroom before being repurposed as a shelter for the remaining roughly 200 villagers, most of whom were elderly and dependent on aid. Ukrainian officials said no military infrastructure was present at the site, although a military commander and a paramedic were killed during the attack.

Rescue operations continued into early November, with authorities searching for about 19 people believed to be trapped under the rubble and using DNA samples to identify recovered bodies. The bodies of Romanov, Besedin and the two other officers were interred on Saturday, and their final moments captured on body-camera footage are now central to the SBU’s investigation.