Developing: More than 50 may be trapped under the rubble of a Ukrainian aid site

Russian strikes hit a hospice and a hospital as Ukrainian accounts put civilian deaths over 24 hours at least 38, with rescuers still searching an aid centre. ^[1]

The largest reported toll was in Komyshuvakha, in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region, where at least 33 people were killed on Monday night. Ukrainian authorities said nine aerial bombs, each weighing 3,000kg, struck as residents gathered at a school building used to distribute humanitarian aid. ^[1]

In Dnipro, a missile destroyed a hospice and forced the transfer of nearly 50 terminally ill patients. In Kharkiv, a hospital was hit, wounding 73 people, most of them elderly patients, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. The attacks reached places where civilians had gathered for food, shelter or care. ^[1]

Zelensky called the Komyshuvakha strike "one of the largest mass killings committed by Russia during this war." He said more than 50 people could still be trapped under the rubble. ^[1]

The Daily Inference reported earlier on Tuesday that the search was continuing in southern Ukraine after an overnight barrage across nine regions triggered emergency electricity cuts.

The casualty figures remain provisional. Those potentially trapped are not confirmed dead, and the circumstances and intended target of the Komyshuvakha attack remain contested. Russia's defence ministry said it struck Ukrainian military units and killed 25 servicemen, while the BBC said there was no credible evidence that the site was being used by the military and no major military or industrial facilities in the settlement. ^[1]

An aid queue beneath the bombs

The Komyshuvakha attack struck a school serving a civilian purpose: distributing aid to residents. The UN human rights monitoring mission said the distribution had been highly publicised and the attack "seems to have violated the most fundamental principles of international humanitarian law." Its assessment was expressed as an apparent violation, rather than a final legal finding. ^[1]

Local media said people took refuge underground and the roof collapsed. That account helps explain why the search extends beyond those already counted among the dead: Zelensky's warning concerns people who may still be beneath the wreckage. Their fate is the immediate task for rescuers. ^[1]

The laws of war require armed forces to distinguish military targets from civilians and civilian sites. A claim that troops were present is therefore central to Russia's account. It requires evidence, especially when the site was publicly known as an aid distribution point.

Elderly patients moved from a ruined hospice

The Dnipro hospice housed people already approaching the end of their lives. Its oldest patient was 90, and nearly 50 patients were being transferred to other facilities after the missile strike on Monday night. ^[1]

Mayor Boris Filatov posted photographs showing elderly patients in a room with blown-out windows, rubble and broken glass. He described them as "elderly, terminally ill people" and identified the weapon as "a Russian missile." ^[1]

Moving these patients is part of the immediate burden of the attack. The hospice's destruction displaced people who depended on its care, requiring other facilities to receive them while the city was also dealing with casualties elsewhere. ^[1]

A separate strike in Dnipro killed two people and wounded 18, according to the BBC's account. In the Donetsk region, aerial-bomb and drone attacks killed five people. Those local figures were being reported alongside the wider, still-developing national count. ^[1]

In Kharkiv, Zelensky's figure of 73 wounded at the hospital described another concentration of casualties among older people. The hospice and hospital strikes extended the damage beyond the aid centre to patients already receiving care. ^[1]

Water and transport stop as talks approach

The attacks also hit energy infrastructure in nine regions, disrupting water and heating. In Kyiv, the city's water supplier said the capital's supply had been entirely cut off because of attacks and damage to energy infrastructure. ^[1]

The entire Kyiv metro network was suspended on Tuesday. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the power situation was becoming "very difficult." ^[1]

The destruction came as the Kremlin announced that Russia would join US-brokered three-way peace talks with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11. According to the BBC, it would be the first such trilateral meeting since February. ^[1]

Speaking in Berlin, Zelensky said he had seen "no indication" that Russia was engaging seriously in negotiations on a ceasefire and a peaceful settlement. ^[1]