Ukrainian authorities have raised the death toll from a Russian attack on an aid center in the Zaporizhia region to 40, according to Al Jazeera. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the revised figure on Wednesday and said some bodies had not yet been accounted for.
More than 30 people may still be under the rubble in the village of Komyshuvakha, Zelenskyy said. Local officials had earlier confirmed 37 deaths and estimated about 38 people could remain trapped. Russia dropped several bombs on a school building near the front line that was being used to distribute aid, and a follow-up strike hit an underground shelter filled with people. Four police officers and two members of a rescue crew were among the dead.
The strike on Monday was one of the deadliest on civilians of Russia's nearly five-year war on its neighbor. Zelenskyy condemned the attack and said it showed Russia did not want de-escalation, adding that it had wasted an opportunity created by a ceasefire and humanitarian mission last week in the front-line village of Oleshky. The United Nations human rights mission in Ukraine said on Tuesday that the bombing likely violated international law.
Local authorities said Russian drones were hampering the search for victims, while Mykhailo Semikin, acting head of the regional military administration, insisted that operations would continue. The attack came as Kyiv prepares to attend US-brokered ceasefire talks with Moscow next week. Special envoy Steve Witkoff has said delegations from Ukraine and Russia will meet in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11.