OMM Newsroom
Russian strikes across Ukraine, including attacks on an aid distribution centre, a hospice and a hospital, have killed at least 38 civilians and injured scores of others over the past 24 hours, according to the BBC.
At least 31 people were reported killed in a glide-bomb attack on the Zaporizhzhia region on Monday night. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the toll was expected to rise, with more than 50 people potentially trapped under rubble.
Zelensky called the strike on Komyshuvakha “one of the largest mass killings committed by Russia during this war”. He said Ukraine had proposed extending and expanding last week’s ceasefire in the Kherson region, which allowed people to leave the Russian-occupied frontline village of Oleshky. He described the attack on Komyshuvakha as Moscow’s response.
Authorities said nine 3,000kg aerial bombs hit the village as residents gathered to collect humanitarian aid at a distribution centre. Local media reported that people took shelter in an underground school when the attack began, but its roof collapsed, trapping many underneath.
“The scale of the tragedy is difficult to comprehend,” regional head Mykhailo Semikin said.
Russia’s defence ministry said the attack targeted Ukrainian military units and killed 25 servicemen. BBC Russian defence correspondent Ilya Abishev reported that there was no credible evidence the site was being used by the Ukrainian military, and that Komyshuvakha had no major military or industrial facilities.
The village lies south-east of the city of Zaporizhzhia, which has faced repeated Russian bombardment. Abishev said Komyshuvakha was of significant military importance as part of Ukraine’s defensive and transport network on the approaches to the regional capital.
The UN human rights monitoring mission said the distribution of humanitarian aid at the local school had been widely publicised. The attack “seems to have violated the most fundamental principles of international humanitarian law”, it said.
In Dnipro, nearly 50 terminally ill patients were being moved to other facilities after a Russian missile destroyed their hospice on Monday night. The oldest patient was 90.
Dnipro Mayor Boris Filatov posted photos on Telegram showing elderly people in their beds in a hospice room with blown-out windows, rubble and broken glass on the floor.
“I realise that I am violating ethics,” Filatov wrote. “I want as many people as possible to see these photos. Especially politicians and diplomats. Especially abroad.”
“These are elderly, terminally ill people. This is a Russian missile.”
A separate strike elsewhere in Dnipro killed two people and wounded 18. Five more people were killed in aerial bomb and drone strikes in the eastern Donetsk region.
Russia also struck energy infrastructure in nine regions, disrupting water and heating supplies. Kyiv’s water supplier, Kyivvodokanal, said the city’s water supply had been entirely cut off “due to enemy attacks and damage to the capital’s energy infrastructure”. The entire metro network was suspended on Tuesday, and Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the city’s power situation was becoming “very difficult”.
As Ukraine counted its dead, the Kremlin announced that Russia would take part in US-brokered three-way peace talks with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi on 10-11 November. It would be the first trilateral meeting since February. Since then, Russia and the United States have begun engaging more directly, with US President Donald Trump announcing a deal to import Russian diesel.
Speaking to reporters in Berlin on Tuesday, Zelensky said Russia needed to engage seriously in negotiations on a ceasefire and a peaceful settlement. He said he had so far seen “any indication” that it was doing so.
Several rounds of ceasefire talks late last year produced no results. Russian officials have generally continued to demand what the BBC described as effective Ukrainian surrender.
US First Lady Melania Trump, who was credited with brokering a truce last week in Oleshky, is due to host Russian and Ukrainian representatives at the White House on Thursday. The White House statement did not specify who would attend.
The UN said last month that civilian casualties in Ukraine had reached a “record level” as Russian armed forces resumed systematic attacks on energy infrastructure.
Russian advances along the front line have stalled, while attacks on Ukraine have intensified, with Moscow using large numbers of missiles and drones against Ukrainian cities.
Ukraine is also facing a critical shortage of air defences because Western weapons deliveries have stalled and US Patriot interceptor missiles are in short supply. In Berlin, Zelensky said that although the front line was stable, “the situation in the air was not as positive”, particularly regarding Ukraine’s air defences and the protection of civilians.
