Ukraine: 29 killed in southern aid site strike
Overnight missile and drone barrages targeted power plants and hospitals across nine regions as U.S. elections took place.
By Megan Greco ·
The death toll from a Russian attack on a humanitarian aid facility in southern Ukraine rose to 29 on Tuesday, leaving 48 people missing. The strike hit Komyushuvakha in the Zaporizhzhia region, where residents had gathered for supplies. Rescuers and volunteers combed the cratered blast site all day, pulling bodies wrapped in white plastic sheeting from the rubble of the destroyed shelter.
Mykhailo Semikin, acting head of the regional military administration, called the event one of the worst civilian tragedies in the area since the full-scale war began. He noted that Russian forces used bunker-busting bombs containing nearly 1.5 tons of explosives in the Monday attack. Three days of mourning were declared in the Zaporizhzhia region. Among the 29 dead were four police officers and two rescue workers, and at least five others were injured.
The strike occurred during a massive overnight barrage that targeted infrastructure across nine Ukrainian regions. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles, and 59 cruise missiles. He noted the timing coincided with U.S. elections and stated that Moscow likely believed America would ignore the signal. Zelenskyy urged allies to help Ukraine defend its skies to stop the missile strikes.
The offensive caused emergency power cuts and damaged hospitals nationwide. In the Kharkiv region, a combined missile and drone attack wounded at least 62 people. A strike in the Nemyshlianskyi district damaged a medical facility and shattered windows in four apartment buildings. Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, said more than 200 patients were transferred to other facilities.
In the Dnipro area, a Russian attack killed one person and wounded 17. Rescuers pulled a woman alive from the rubble Tuesday morning. The strike damaged an outpatient clinic and a hospital, prompting the transfer of patients to other locations, according to Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the Dnipro regional military administration.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense reported shooting down 856 Ukrainian drones overnight. Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow’s mayor, said 493 drones were fired toward the capital. A Ukrainian drone attack also hit an oil refinery in Yaroslavl, wounding two employees and damaging infrastructure, regional Governor Mikhail Yevrayev said. Rolling blackouts were instituted in parts of Russian-occupied Crimea following attacks on energy infrastructure.
Source: WUSF Public Media
