Russia unleashed a massive overnight assault on Ukraine, firing 289 drones and 17 ballistic missiles at targets across the country, Ukrainian authorities reported on Tuesday. The barrage killed dozens of civilians, forced the evacuation of a hospital in Kharkiv, and triggered air-raid alerts in Kyiv, Dnipro, and Sumy.
The attacks came just hours after a rare local ceasefire in the southern Kherson region expired on Sunday. That truce, the longest lull in the nearly five-year war, had allowed a humanitarian mission to deliver aid to the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky. But within hours of its end, Russian forces struck a village in Zaporizhzhia, killing at least 26 people, according to acting regional governor Mykhailo Semikin. By Tuesday, the death toll in the region had risen to 29.
Ivan Fedorov, head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, accused Moscow of deliberately targeting civilians queuing for humanitarian supplies. “They are striking people who had come to receive aid,” he said in a statement.
In Kharkiv, a Russian strike hit a medical facility, wounding 25 people and forcing around 200 patients to evacuate. Regional military administration head Oleg Synegubov said the building, its windows, and nearby cars were damaged. Ukraine’s air force warned of ballistic missile threats against Kharkiv, the capital, Dnipro, and Sumy throughout the night.
In Dnipropetrovsk, governor Oleksandr Ganzha reported that Russian strikes had hit critical infrastructure in the city of Dnipro and in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown, Kryvyi Rih. Russia’s defence ministry confirmed it had carried out a “massive strike” on energy facilities across Ukraine and on port infrastructure in the Odesa region.
Poland, a NATO member bordering Ukraine, activated its air defences to protect its airspace, particularly in the eastern border areas. Warsaw said the measures were precautionary and did not involve engaging any targets.
Diplomacy stumbles as violence escalates
The renewed violence has cast a shadow over diplomatic efforts. US special envoy Steve Witkoff announced on Tuesday that Washington-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine would resume on 10–11 November in Abu Dhabi. “The United States will mediate working-level negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, advancing President Trump’s mission to end the war,” Witkoff wrote on X.
President Donald Trump has pushed for a settlement, but no breakthrough has emerged. The latest strikes have further eroded trust. Zelenskyy condemned Monday’s attack on Zaporizhzhia, which he said hit a school distributing humanitarian aid. “There was a moment when the next steps after the Oleshky truce could have shown that progress toward peace was possible,” he said. “With these killings, Russia is sending an entirely opposite signal: Russia is counting on more killings. There must be a response to this.”
The brief truce in Kherson, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump, had allowed evacuations from Oleshky to both Ukrainian-controlled territory and Moscow-annexed Crimea. But a senior Ukrainian official told AFP that Russia refused an offer to extend the ceasefire. Ukraine’s military also alleged that Moscow used the pause to fortify its positions.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the accusations, calling such fortification “a completely normal practice in such situations.” He also claimed that Ukrainian forces had used previous pauses to regroup. Peskov described the Oleshky humanitarian mission as “successful,” praising the “good cooperation between all sides” and singling out Russia’s human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova.
The escalation comes as European allies continue to prepare for a possible post-war support mission in Ukraine, with troops rehearsing in Poland. Meanwhile, the collapse of the Kherson truce has been followed by renewed strikes on the region, and cyberattacks have hit air-raid alert apps in both Ukraine and Russia, complicating civilian warnings.
In Moscow, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said nearly 500 drones heading towards the capital region were destroyed, though no casualties were reported. The scale of the overnight assault underscores the fragility of any peace process, as both sides continue to inflict heavy losses.
