Ukraine declares mourning as aid center strike kills 31, leaves 45 missing

Rescuers worked through the debris in southern Ukraine on Tuesday, searching for survivors after a Russian strike killed at least 31 people at an aid facility and shelter in the village of Komyshuvakha. More than 45 residents remained missing from the site in Zaporizhzhia region, where emergency workers and volunteers carried bodies away in white plastic sheeting.

Mykhailo Semikin, acting head of the region’s military administration, described the event as one of the worst tragedies for civilian victims in the region since the start of the full-scale war. The attack on Monday used Russian bunker-busting bombs containing nearly 1.5 tons of explosives. The dead included four police officers and two rescue workers, while at least five others were injured. Three days of mourning were declared in the region.

The strike occurred as Ukraine prepared for a new round of U.S.-brokered peace negotiations scheduled for next week. Overnight, a wave of strikes targeted power plants across the country, damaging hospitals and wounding scores of people. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that Russia launched 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles, and 59 cruise missiles across nine regions, causing emergency power cuts.

Zelenskyy noted that the barrage coincided with U.S. elections. He stated that Russia thought America would not notice the signal, but emphasized the need for Ukraine to defend its skies to stop the missile strikes. In the northeast region of Kharkiv, a combined missile and drone attack wounded at least 62 people. The strike damaged a medical facility in the Nemyshlianskyi district, shattered windows in four apartment buildings, and damaged cars. More than 200 patients were transferred to other medical facilities, according to Oleh Syniehubov, head of the regional military administration.

In the Dnipro area, rescuers pulled a woman alive from rubble on Tuesday morning after a Russian attack killed one person and wounded 17. The attack damaged an outpatient clinic and a hospital, prompting the transfer of patients to other facilities, Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the regional military administration, said. Moscow maintained its nightly attacks on energy infrastructure ahead of winter, carrying out 20 strikes in 10 regions overnight, Ukraine’s energy ministry reported.

Ukrainian power utility DTEK stated that three of its power plants halted operations following intense attacks that caused extensive damage and electricity outages. No injuries were reported at the plants. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it shot down 856 Ukrainian drones overnight, while Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 493 drones were fired toward the Russian capital. In the Russian city of Yaroslavl, a Ukrainian drone attack wounded two employees at an oil refinery and damaged the infrastructure, regional Gov. Mikhail Yevrayev reported.

Rolling blackouts were instituted in the south, west, and east of Russian-occupied Crimea following attacks on energy infrastructure, according to Moscow-installed officials. Zelenskyy traveled to Germany on Tuesday to begin consultations with European leaders ahead of the U.S.-mediated talks. U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, confirmed the talks for Nov. 10-11 in Abu Dhabi, with a focus on postwar security arrangements, de-escalation, and humanitarian efforts.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Tuesday that a Russian delegation will attend the talks, which mark the first such negotiations since February after Russia agreed last month to resume three-way talks with Washington and Kyiv. The European Commission will host a meeting Wednesday with officials from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union, NATO, Ukraine, the United States, and the World Bank to discuss postwar reconstruction in Ukraine. Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho did not comment on whether Zelenskyy would attend that meeting.