Zaporizhzhia Declares Three Days of Mourning After 31 Killed in Aid Shelter Strike

Rescuers in southern Ukraine continued searching for survivors on Tuesday.

At least 31 people were killed and more than 45 remain missing after a Russian strike hit an aid facility and shelter in the village of Komyshuvakha.

The village is located in the Zaporizhzhia region. Emergency workers and volunteers picked through the debris of the cratered blast site.

Bodies were pulled from the rubble and carried away in white plastic sheeting. Mykhailo Semikin, the acting head of the regional military administration, called the tragedy terrifying.

Semikin wrote online that this is one of the worst tragedies for civilian victims in the region since the full-scale war began. Three days of mourning were declared in Zaporizhzhia.

Russian forces used bunker-busting bombs in the Monday attack. Some of the bombs contained nearly 1.5 tons of explosives. The dead include four police officers and two rescue workers.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles, and 59 cruise missiles across nine regions overnight.

The strikes triggered emergency power cuts. Zelenskyy noted the barrage coincided with U.S. elections. He said the Russians think America will not notice their signal.

He stated that Ukraine needs help defending its skies to stop missile strikes. In the Kharkiv region, a combined attack wounded at least 62 people.

A medical facility in the Nemyshlianskyi district was damaged. Windows in four apartment buildings were shattered. More than 200 patients were transferred to other facilities.

In the Dnipro area, rescuers pulled a woman from the rubble on Tuesday morning. A Russian attack in the area killed one person and wounded 17. An outpatient clinic and a hospital were damaged.

Ukraine's energy ministry reported 20 strikes on power plants and energy infrastructure in 10 regions. Three power plants operated by DTEK halted operations after damage. No injuries were reported at the plants. Moscow said it shot down 856 Ukrainian drones overnight. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 493 drones were fired toward the Russian capital. Two employees at an oil refinery in Yaroslavl were wounded by a Ukrainian drone attack. Rolling blackouts were instituted in parts of Russian-occupied Crimea. Zelenskyy traveled to Germany on Tuesday to consult with European leaders. U.S.-mediated peace talks are scheduled for November 10 and 11 in Abu Dhabi. Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy, confirmed the date late Monday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed a Russian delegation will attend the talks. The European Commission is hosting a meeting on Wednesday to discuss postwar reconstruction with officials from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the EU, NATO, Ukraine, the U.S., and the World Bank.