29 killed as Russian strike hits Ukrainian aid site

The number of people killed in a Russian attack on a humanitarian aid facility in southern Ukraine reached 29 on Tuesday. Officials confirmed that 48 residents remain missing as they search the rubble of a destroyed shelter in the village of Komyushuvakha, located in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Three key developments marked the day of recovery and response. First, acting head of the regional military administration Mykhailo Semikin described the event as one of the worst tragedies for civilian victims in the region since the full-scale war began. He noted the scale of the damage is terrifying. Second, the attack involved Russian bunker-busting bombs containing nearly 1.5 tons of explosives. This specific type of ordnance was used to strike the site on Monday. Third, the dead include four police officers and two rescue workers, according to Semikin’s Tuesday report.

A wider wave of overnight strikes targeted infrastructure across nine regions of Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russia launched 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles, and 59 cruise missiles. The barrage coincided with U.S. elections, a timing Zelenskyy said was intended to send a signal that America might not notice the attacks. He emphasized that Ukraine needs help defending its skies to stop the missile strikes.

In the Kharkiv region in the northeast, a combined missile and drone attack wounded at least 62 people. Local authorities reported that a medical facility in the Nemyshlianskyi district was damaged, and windows in four apartment buildings were shattered. Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the regional military administration, said more than 200 patients were transferred to other medical facilities. In the Dnipro area, rescuers pulled a woman alive from the rubble on Tuesday morning after an attack that killed one person and wounded 17 others.

Three days of mourning were declared in Zaporizhzhia following the strike. Rescuers and volunteers continued their efforts at the cratered blast site, carrying away bodies wrapped in white plastic sheeting. Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed it shot down 856 Ukrainian drones overnight, while Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that 493 drones were fired toward the Russian capital. A Ukrainian drone attack also wounded two employees at an oil refinery in Yaroslavl, with regional Governor Mikhail Yevrayev confirming damage to the refinery's infrastructure.

Rolling blackouts were instituted in the south, west, and east of Russian-occupied Crimea following attacks on energy infrastructure. Moscow-installed officials announced these power cuts on Tuesday. The strikes left parts of the country without electricity while emergency crews worked to clear debris and treat the wounded.