At least 33 killed after Russia bombs Ukraine civilian shelter, Zelensky calls it 'one of the deadliest attacks of this war'

At least 33 people have been confirmed dead and another 50 remain unaccounted for after Russia dropped at least nine bombs on a building in southeastern Ukraine where civilians had taken shelter. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the incident as ‘one of the deadliest attacks of this war’. The attack targeted a building in Komyshuvakha, in the Zaporizhzhia region, which was being used as a shelter and a humanitarian aid distribution centre, according to local governor Mykhailo Semikin.

Semikin said civilians were inside a newly constructed, EU-funded reinforced basement designed to withstand most strikes. However, the enormous force of the bombs caused the concrete structure to collapse, triggering a fire. The shelter was built last year to allow classes to continue during the war. However, as fighting moved closer to the village, many civilians left the area, and the building was no longer being used as a school. Local authorities had instead converted it into an administrative centre and humanitarian hub.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said the attack happened as civilians from the surrounding area gathered to collect humanitarian aid. “The timing and location of the humanitarian distribution was well publicized,” said Danielle Bell, the head of the mission. “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 they were planning to attack. In either case, this attack seems to have violated the most fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.”

Zelensky said the strike occurred shortly before Russia launched another major wave of attacks involving hundreds of drones and dozens of powerful cruise and ballistic missiles targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure. The assault came despite repeated calls by US President Donald Trump for an energy ceasefire. Ukraine's Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said three drones were directed at a substation critical to the operation of the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant.

In a Telegram post, Shmyhal warned that such actions threaten nuclear safety across Europe. He also said Ukraine had notified the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). “It is very telling that all of this is happening on the day of the US congressional elections. The Russians believe that America will not notice this signal from them. But such terror must be noticed and stopped,” Zelensky said on Tuesday morning. “Ukraine must be helped to defend its skies, otherwise Russia will never stop its missile strikes. It is essential to help build peace honestly and reliably, and America can do that,” Zelensky added.

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Double-tap strike

The Monday attack is among the deadliest since Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine. However, the past few months have also witnessed a significant number of deadly attacks on civilians.Russia intensified its aerial assaults on towns and cities across Ukraine over the summer, carrying out strikes at different ti mes of the day. At least 33 people were killed last month when Russian forces struck two civilian buses in Kramatorsk, in the Donetsk region.

In August, 38 people died after a Russian drone hit an ammunition depot near the Ukrainian capital. The strike triggered a massive fire and several explosions that continued for hours in a residential area near Kyiv. A large-scale Russian missile assault on Kyiv in July also killed 33 people across the city in a coordinated barrage. The attack on Komyshuvakha on Monday followed a pattern in which Russian forces reportedly launch an initial wave of strikes, wait for emergency responders to arrive and then carry out another attack.