31 dead, dozens missing after Russian strike on Ukrainian aid site

KYIV, Ukraine — Rescuers in southern Ukraine continued an intense search Tuesday for survivors at a bombed-out aid facility and shelter where at least 31 people were killed and dozens were still missing.Teams of emergency workers and volunteers picked through debris at the cratered blast site in Komyshuvakha, a village in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region where bodies were pulled from the rubble and carried away in white plastic sheeting.More than 45 residents are still missing.“The scale of the tragedy is terrifying,” Mykhailo Semikin, acting head of the region’s military administration, wrote in an online post.

“This is one of the worst tragedies in terms of the number of civilian victims in our region since the start of the full-scale war.”As Ukraine prepared for a new round of US-brokered peace negotiations next week, a wave of overnight strikes targeted power plants across the country, damaged hospitals and wounded scores of people.Russia launched 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles across nine regions, triggering emergency power cuts, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an online post that noted the barrage coincided with US elections.“The Russians think America won’t notice this signal of theirs,” he said.“But we need to notice and stop such terror.

We need to help Ukraine defend its skies; otherwise, Russia will never stop its missile strikes.”Three days of mourning were declared in Zaporizhzhia, where Russian bunker-busting bombs, some filled with nearly 1.5 tons of explosives, were used in Monday’s attack.The dead included four police officers and two rescue workers, Semikin said Tuesday.At least five people were hurt.In the northeast region of Kharkiv, a combined Russian missile and drone attack wounded at least 62 people, local authorities said.A strike damaged a medical facility in the Nemyshlianskyi district, shattered windows in four apartment buildings and damaged cars.

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