Ukraine reports 26 dead in Zaporizhzhia village after Kherson truce ends
Aid recipients and emergency staff were killed in strikes that followed the expiry of a US-brokered local ceasefire in neighboring Kherson.
By Robert Ward ·
Ukrainian authorities confirmed at least 26 people died in Russian aerial strikes on a village in the Zaporizhzhia region on Monday. The victims included residents collecting humanitarian aid, rescue workers, and police officers. The attacks occurred immediately after a local ceasefire in the adjacent Kherson region expired on Sunday.
President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that bombs hit a school as people gathered for a weekly aid distribution. A second strike then targeted the shelter where survivors had taken cover. Video from Ukraine's emergency services showed rescuers searching through the smoldering rubble of the destroyed building.
Acting regional governor Mykhailo Semikin identified two of the dead as rescue workers and four as police officers. The emergency service named the rescuers as Denys Konovalenko and Oleksy Sushchevsky, both 44 years old. Officials noted that both men regularly worked in dangerous conditions to assist others.
The local truce, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump, ran from Tuesday to Sunday. It allowed a humanitarian mission to operate in Russian-occupied Oleshky and enabled the evacuation of residents to Ukrainian-controlled areas and Crimea. Neither side reported violations during the pause. Kyiv stated that Russia resumed attacks on Kherson as soon as the agreement lapsed.
A senior Ukrainian official told AFP on Sunday that Moscow rejected Kyiv's proposal to extend the truce. Ukraine's military accused Russian forces of using the break to strengthen their positions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not deny the accusation on Monday, describing such movements as normal and alleging Ukrainian troops had used previous pauses to regroup.
Peskov called the Oleshky mission a success and praised the cooperation between Russian human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova and Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Lubinets. The Kremlin stated that no similar missions are currently planned. The war, now in its fifth year, has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and displaced millions of people.
Diplomatic talks will resume on November 10 and 11 in Abu Dhabi, according to US special envoy Steve Witkoff. Separately, both nations reported cyberattacks on emergency warning applications hours after the ceasefire ended. Ukrainian authorities said millions received false radiation alerts after their air raid system was compromised, a critical tool for tracking Russian missiles and drones.
Source: France 24
