29 killed in strike on Zaporizhzhia aid site

Twenty-nine people died in a Russian attack on an aid facility in Komyushuvakha, a village in the Zaporizhzhia region, authorities confirmed on Tuesday. Forty-eight individuals remain missing under the rubble of the destroyed shelter and distribution site. Rescuers and volunteers continued clearing the cratered blast zone, pulling out more bodies wrapped in white plastic sheeting.

Mykhailo Semikin, acting head of the regional military administration, described the event as one of the worst civilian tragedies in the area since the full-scale war began. He noted that the strike used bunker-busting bombs containing nearly 1.5 tons of explosives. The victims included four police officers and two rescue workers, with at least five others injured. Zaporizhzhia officials declared three days of mourning for the region.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russia launched a coordinated barrage across nine regions overnight. The attack consisted of 289 drones, 17 ballistic missiles, and 59 cruise missiles. Zelenskyy said the timing coincided with United States elections and argued that Russia hoped America would ignore the strike. He called for continued support to defend Ukrainian skies.

The overnight strikes also targeted energy infrastructure, triggering emergency power cuts nationwide. In the Kharkiv region, a combined missile and drone attack wounded at least 62 people. Local authorities reported that a medical facility in the Nemyshlianskyi district sustained damage, forcing the transfer of more than 200 patients to other hospitals. Windows in four apartment buildings were shattered, and several cars were damaged.

In the Dnipro area, rescuers recovered a woman alive from the rubble on Tuesday morning. The attack there killed one person and wounded 17 others. Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the regional military administration, said an outpatient clinic and a hospital were damaged, requiring patient transfers. Rolling blackouts were instituted in the south, west, and east of occupied Crimea after strikes on energy infrastructure.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced that it shot down 856 Ukrainian drones overnight. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that 493 drones were fired toward Moscow. In Yaroslavl, regional governor Mikhail Yevrayev said two employees were wounded in a drone attack on an oil refinery. He added that the facility's infrastructure sustained damage.

The strikes represent a major escalation in air combat this week. Ukrainian officials are assessing the full extent of the infrastructure damage while search operations continue in Zaporizhzhia. The death toll may rise as rescuers work through the debris in the southern village.