Ukraine says Russian strikes dash peace hopes after 26 killed
Ukraine on Monday accused Russia of killing at least 26 people in strikes on a school distributing humanitarian aid, dashing fragile hopes of “progress towards peace” after a local ceasefire in the south ended without reported violations.
Russia resumed strikes in the southern Kherson region after the expiry of a ceasefire, which Kyiv described as the longest truce of the war since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
The rare pause in fighting, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump to facilitate an evacuation mission to the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, began on Tuesday and ended on Sunday, with neither side reporting any violations.
However, hours after the truce expired, Russian forces launched repeated strikes on a village in the neighbouring Zaporizhzhia region, killing at least 26 people, acting regional governor Mykhailo Semikin said.
Some of the victims had gathered at a local school to collect humanitarian aid.
Footage released by Ukraine’s emergency services showed the building reduced to smouldering rubble as rescuers searched the site.
“Every Monday, humanitarian aid was distributed to people there,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address.
“The Russians carried out the first strike just as people arrived — several aerial bombs. Then, there was a repeat strike — more aerial bombs, this time targeting the shelter.”
Among those killed were two rescue workers and four police officers, Semikin said in a Telegram post.
The emergency services identified the rescuers as Denys Konovalenko and Oleksy Sushchevsky, both 44.
“Every day, they went out to help people, working in dangerous conditions and risking their own lives to save others,” the service said in a statement.
Zelensky said the Oleshky ceasefire had created an opportunity to demonstrate that “progress towards peace was possible”.
“With these killings, Russia is sending an entirely opposite signal: Russia is counting on more killings. There must be a response to this,” he said.
Russia fortifies positions
The ceasefire last week enabled the evacuation of people from the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky.
It was the longest pause in fighting between the two countries since the war began, now in its fifth year, killing hundreds of thousands of people and displacing millions.
A senior Ukrainian official told AFP on Sunday that Russia had rejected Kyiv’s offer to extend the truce.
Ukraine’s military also alleged that Moscow had used the pause to “fortify its positions”.
The Kremlin did not deny the allegation. Its spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that such actions were “a completely normal practice in such situations”.
He alleged that Ukrainian forces had also used previous pauses in fighting to regroup.
Peskov described the Oleshky humanitarian mission as “successful”, praising the “good cooperation between all sides” and highlighting the role of Russian human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova.
Lantratova oversaw the ceasefire alongside her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Lubinets, in one of the most significant instances of cooperation between the two countries since the war began.
The mission enabled people to be evacuated to both Ukrainian-controlled territory and Crimea, which Russia annexed.
The Kremlin said no similar missions were being planned “at the moment”.
US-led talks between Russia and Ukraine are set to resume next week, US special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Monday.
President Donald Trump has pushed for a settlement to the war, but negotiations have yet to produce a breakthrough.
The talks are scheduled for November 10 and 11 in Abu Dhabi, Witkoff said, as Kyiv and its European allies grow increasingly concerned that Trump has been leaning towards Moscow.
Cyberattacks
Russia and Ukraine said overnight that their emergency alert apps had been hacked in apparent cyberattacks, hours after the ceasefire ended.
Ukraine said it suspected its air raid alert system had been compromised after false warnings of a radiation threat were sent to millions of people.
The system provides vital alerts about incoming Russian drones and missiles.
Russia also said an app operated by its emergency situations ministry, which issues warnings about attacks, had been hacked.
The app is not widely used in Russia, where warnings of Ukrainian drone attacks are less common and are typically sent by text message in border regions.