Bombs strike Komyshuvakha shelter, killing 31 amid new drone attacks

Rescuers worked through Tuesday night to find survivors at a destroyed aid site in southern Ukraine.

The death toll from Monday's attacks in the village of Komyshuvakha reached 31. More than 45 residents remained missing as emergency teams and volunteers picked through the debris. The blasts struck a former school and a nearby shelter where locals had lined up for humanitarian aid. Mykhailo Semikin, the acting head of the Zaporizhzhia region's military administration, called the event one of the worst tragedies for civilian casualties in the area since the full-scale war began.

Baptist pastor Vladyslav Makhovskyi joined the recovery efforts to help move bodies and assist elderly residents. He said the shelter was a trusted location that provided internet and safety for people seeking cover. Makhovskyi noted that the Russian bomb broke through heavily reinforced concrete blocks. He warned that the job was not done and that more bodies remained trapped in the ruins. Rescue operations were briefly halted on Tuesday when Russian drones forced soldiers to open fire to clear the sky.

The attacks coincided with a massive overnight barrage that targeted energy infrastructure across the country. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles, and 59 cruise missiles into nine regions. The strikes caused emergency power cuts and damaged hospitals in several areas. Zelenskyy stated that the timing aligned with U.S. midterm elections and argued that the strikes were a signal meant to be noticed. He urged allies to help Ukraine defend its skies to stop the missile attacks.

Context for the violence includes the recent expiration of a six-day ceasefire in the occupied city of Oleshky. That truce allowed trapped residents to evacuate and marked the most significant pause in fighting since 2022. Zelenskyy said Ukraine offered to extend the ceasefire but received new strikes in response. He is currently in Berlin meeting with European leaders ahead of U.S.-brokered peace talks scheduled for Nov. 10 and 11 in Abu Dhabi. The negotiations will focus on postwar security, de-escalation, and humanitarian efforts, with a Russian delegation confirmed to attend. Ukraine's energy ministry reported that three power plants halted operations after the latest strikes, leading to rolling blackouts in parts of the country.

In the Kharkiv region, a missile and drone attack wounded at least 62 people and damaged a medical facility. More than 200 patients were transferred to other hospitals. In the Dnipro area, rescuers pulled one woman from the rubble after an attack that killed one person and wounded 17. The U.S. and European Union are preparing to discuss postwar reconstruction in a meeting hosted by the European Commission on Wednesday. Zelenskyy told the Berlin Security Conference that Ukraine will never surrender and that President Trump's administration holds the power to push for negotiations.