Russian strike kills 33 at Ukrainian aid centre

At least 33 people were killed and 50 others are missing after at least nine Russian bombs were dropped on a building in Komyshuvakha, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday. The building housed a humanitarian aid distribution centre and served as a shelter for residents, according to regional governor Mykhailo Semikin.

The victims had taken refuge in a recently built reinforced basement funded by the European Union. The force of the explosions caused the structure to collapse and started a fire, Mykhailo Semikin said. The site, originally designed to allow classes to continue during the war, was being used by the authorities as an administrative and humanitarian centre.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said the attack took place as civilians were gathering to receive aid. Its head, Danielle Bell, said Russian forces may have known that a distribution was taking place or may not have taken the necessary precautions, which could constitute a violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.

The attack came before a new series of Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, involving hundreds of drones and dozens of cruise and ballistic missiles, according to Volodymyr Zelensky. Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Chmyhal said three drones had targeted an electrical substation essential to the operation of the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant and that Kyiv had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency. The strike followed Russian bombardments that killed 18 people in Ukraine on 2 November and an attack on an aid centre that killed 26 people, also reported on 2 November.