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At least 29 people have been killed in a Russian strike on a humanitarian aid centre in southern Ukraine, days before Russian, Ukrainian and American officials are due to meet for a new round of peace talks in Abu Dhabi. The attack, on a former school turned aid distribution point in the village of Komyshuvakha in the Zaporizhzhia region, is one of the deadliest single strikes on a civilian aid site in months — and it came hours after a short local ceasefire elsewhere in Ukraine had expired.
According to Ukrainian officials, the centre had been closed to students because the village sits close to the front line. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the first aerial bomb was followed by a second strike of nine more bombs, aimed, in his words, at the shelter where people were taking cover. Acting regional governor Mykhailo Semikin said at least 29 people were killed and 48 others were considered missing, with rescue operations still under way. The toll rose through the day: early reports put it lower, before officials confirmed the higher figure.
What happened in Komyshuvakha
The strike destroyed the aid point where residents had gathered for humanitarian supplies. Reports from the scene describe at least nine heavy aerial bombs hitting the village. Ukraine's state emergency service later said rescuers and police officers were among those confirmed killed. Russia has not publicly addressed this specific strike in the reporting so far; its defence ministry said separately that it had targeted electricity facilities in several regions.
The attack did not stand alone. Overnight, Russia launched what Zelenskyy described as 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles, mostly at energy infrastructure across Odesa, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv and Rivne, causing emergency power cuts. A city hospital in Kharkiv was also struck directly, injuring 73 people and damaging its cardiology department, where patients were receiving treatment, according to Zelenskyy.
Why the timing matters
Hours after the aid-centre attack, US special envoy Steve Witkoff announced that delegations from Ukraine and Russia would meet in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11, with the United States mediating. Witkoff said the talks would address post-war security agreements, de-escalation, humanitarian measures and the next steps toward peace. It will be the first direct meeting between the two sides since talks in Geneva in February, according to reports, and expectations of a breakthrough are low. Witkoff also said American negotiators would meet representatives from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO in Brussels this week to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine and Europe's post-war security architecture.
The strike also followed the end of a six-day local truce in the Kherson region that had allowed civilians to be evacuated from the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky. Britain and France, meanwhile, announced that around 2,800 troops from 10 European countries will stage military exercises in Poland this month in support of Ukraine — an exercise with no offensive mission, deployable only once a ceasefire is agreed.
What to watch next
Three questions now frame the week. First, whether the missing 48 are found alive or the toll climbs further as rubble is cleared. Second, whether the Abu Dhabi talks, already modest in ambition, survive an attack that Kyiv is presenting as proof Moscow does not want de-escalation. And third, whether Ukraine's air defences — which Kyiv says are running low on Western-supplied interceptors — can blunt the next wave of strikes on energy infrastructure as winter approaches. Related reading: US Patriot Sale to Ukraine: 500 Missiles, Delivery Years Away and Ukraine Air-Alert App Hacked With False Radiation Warnings.
For now, the picture is grim and familiar: a civilian site hit, a death toll still moving, and a negotiation round opening under the shadow of the very violence it is meant to end. Sources: Al Jazeera and Channel News Asia.