KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The death toll from a Russian attack in southern Ukraine where people had gathered to receive humanitarian aid rose to 29 on Tuesday, with 48 still missing, as a wave of overnight strikes targeted power plants across the country, damaged hospitals and wounded scores of people.
Russia launched 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles across nine regions, triggering emergency power cuts, President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy said in an online post that noted the barrage coincided with U.S. elections.
“The Russians think America won’t notice this signal of theirs," he said. “But we need to notice and stop such terror. We need to help Ukraine defend its skies; otherwise, Russia will never stop its missile strikes.”
The guided-bomb attack first targeted a school building used to distribute humanitarian aid in Komyushuvakha, a village in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, and then took aim at a nearby shelter.
The dead included four police officers and two rescue workers, Mykhailo Semikin, acting head of the regional military administration, said Tuesday. At least five people were hurt.
In the northeast region of Kharkiv, a combined Russian missile and drone attack wounded at least 62 people, local authorities said.
A strike damaged a medical facility in the Nemyshlianskyi district, shattered windows in four apartment buildings and damaged cars. More than 200 patients were transferred to other medical facilities, head of the regional military administration Oleh Syniehubov said.
In the Dnipro area, rescuers pulled a woman alive from the rubble Tuesday morning, after a Russian attack killed one person and wounded 17, local authorities said.
The attack damaged an outpatient clinic and a hospital. Patients were transferred to other hospitals, Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the regional military administration, said.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Tuesday that it had shot down 856 Ukrainian drones overnight. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 493 drones were fired toward the Russian capital.
A Ukrainian drone attack wounded two employees at an oil refinery in the Russian city of Yaroslavl, regional Gov. Mikhail Yevrayev said Tuesday. He added that there was damage to the refinery’s infrastructure.
Rolling blackouts have been instituted in the south, west and east of Russian-occupied Crimea following attacks on energy infrastructure, Moscow-installed officials said Tuesday.
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