29 killed in Russian strike on Ukrainian aid hub as 48 remain missing

The number of people confirmed dead in a Russian strike on a humanitarian aid facility in southern Ukraine rose to 29 on Tuesday, while 48 individuals remain unaccounted for. The attack occurred in the village of Komyushuvakha in the Zaporizhzhia region, where residents had gathered to receive supplies. Rescuers and volunteers spent the day searching through the cratered remains of the destroyed shelter and aid facility, pulling out bodies wrapped in white plastic sheeting.

Mykhailo Semikin, acting head of the region's military administration, described the event as one of the worst civilian tragedies in the area since the start of the full-scale war. He stated that the scale of the tragedy is terrifying. The dead included four police officers and two rescue workers, with at least five other people injured. Semikin confirmed 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.

The strike was part of a larger overnight campaign that targeted infrastructure across nine regions. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles, and 59 cruise missiles. The barrage triggered emergency power cuts. Zelenskyy noted that the timing coincided with U.S. elections, stating that the Russians think America will not notice the signal. He called for international support to help Ukraine defend its skies to stop the missile strikes.

Other parts of Ukraine faced similar damage. 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, shattered windows in four apartment buildings, and damaged cars. Oleh Syniehubov, head of the regional military administration, said more than 200 patients were transferred to other medical facilities. In the Dnipro area, a Russian attack killed one person and wounded 17, damaging an outpatient clinic and a hospital. Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the regional military administration, said patients were moved to other hospitals. Rescuers pulled a woman alive from the rubble Tuesday morning.

Russia's Ministry of Defense reported shooting down 856 Ukrainian drones overnight. Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, said 493 drones were fired toward the Russian capital. In the Russian city of Yaroslavl, regional Governor Mikhail Yevrayev said a Ukrainian drone attack wounded two employees at an oil refinery and damaged its infrastructure. Rolling blackouts were instituted in the south, west, and east of Russian-occupied Crimea following attacks on energy infrastructure, according to Moscow-installed officials.