Rescuers in the southeastern Ukrainian village of Komyshuvakha are racing against time after a Russian strike on a former school building killed at least 33 people and left more than 50 others feared trapped under the rubble. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack late on Tuesday as one of the deadliest of the war, calling it a deliberate blow to a humanitarian operation.
The building, which had been converted into an aid distribution point, was hit on Monday, hours after a rare ceasefire in the neighbouring Kherson region had expired. Zelenskyy said Kyiv had proposed extending the truce, but Moscow responded with a wave of strikes across the country.
“Just one strike killed 33 people. Five people were rescued and more than 50 may still be trapped under the rubble,” Zelenskyy told reporters in Berlin, where he was meeting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. He called the attack “one of the largest Russian killings of this war.”
UN condemns strike on aid point
The United Nations human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine sharply criticised the attack. Danielle Bell, the mission’s head, said the Russian forces either knew about the humanitarian distribution or failed to take basic precautions to verify the building’s use. “Either the Russian armed forces knew that there was a humanitarian distribution taking place, or they failed to take the most basic steps to find out what was happening in this village,” she said.
The strike came as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict face renewed uncertainty. Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia, and the United States are due to meet in Abu Dhabi on 10-11 November for the first trilateral talks since February. Zelenskyy, who has long pressed for a direct meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said he hoped the gathering would pave the way for a leaders’ summit.
“We are counting on the fact that work in this format and our other diplomatic steps will open the way to a trilateral format at the level of leaders,” he said. Putin, however, has repeatedly refused face-to-face talks with Zelenskyy.
Speaking alongside Zelenskyy in Berlin, Merz expressed scepticism about Russia’s willingness to negotiate seriously. “It is important that Russia finally and seriously engages in negotiations about a ceasefire and a subsequent peace agreement,” he said. “I do not see that happening so far.”
European concerns over US stance
Kyiv and its European allies have grown wary of US President Donald Trump, who has criticised Zelenskyy and recently signed a diesel deal with Putin. Merz stressed that if Trump invites Putin to the G20 summit in Miami, Zelenskyy should also be at the table. “If Ukraine is to be discussed, then the president of Ukraine must be at the table,” he said.
The brief ceasefire in Kherson, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump, had offered a glimmer of hope. But the renewed attacks have dashed those hopes. Zelenskyy said Kyiv had proposed extending the ceasefire, but “in response, we got this, this kind of attack. New shelling, new strikes, new killings.”
Merz noted that the Kherson truce could have served as a model for other ceasefires, but “Russia has so far stubbornly refused this.”
Meanwhile, Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have raised fears of another harsh winter. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said supplies in the capital were “extremely difficult.” In Moscow, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin claimed nearly 500 drones heading towards the capital region were destroyed.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff said American negotiators would also meet European and NATO officials in Brussels on Wednesday. Representatives from Ukraine, the United States, France, Germany, Britain, NATO, and the World Bank are expected to participate, according to the European Commission.
The attack on Komyshuvakha underscores the fragility of any diplomatic progress. As rescue operations continue, the international community watches closely, with media freedom battles and domestic unrest elsewhere in Europe highlighting the continent’s broader challenges. But for now, the immediate focus remains on the rubble in a small Ukrainian village, where dozens of lives hang in the balance.
