Death Toll in Ukrainian Village Hits 40 as Kyiv Power Grid Fails

The death count in the village of Komyshuvakha reached 40 on Wednesday, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He stated that 30 additional individuals may still be buried beneath the rubble of a former school and nearby shelter. Zelenskyy described the strike as one of the deadliest in the region in nearly five years of war.

The blast occurred on Monday when multiple Russian guided bombs hit the location while residents waited for humanitarian aid. Ivan Fedorov, co-chair of the regional defense council, confirmed that 12 bodies had been identified from the wreckage. The National Police of Ukraine noted that visual identification for some victims was impossible, so specialists are collecting DNA samples from relatives to confirm identities.

Search operations entered their third day on Wednesday. Mykhailo Semikin, the acting head of the regional military administration, said Russian drones hampered the search but that crews would continue working. On Tuesday, Baptist pastor Vladyslav Makhovskyi joined the effort. He observed bodies wrapped in white plastic sheets laid in rows as smoke drifted over the shattered landscape. Makhovskyi told the Associated Press that survivors could not breathe because they were trapped in low-ceilinged underground rooms.

Body camera footage from a police officer killed in the attack captured the moment of impact. The video shows the officer descending stairs into a shelter after the nearby aid distribution center was struck. He is heard urging survivors to move deeper into the structure. A brief rumble is recorded before the feed cuts to black.

Russian aerial assaults continued through the night, causing power and water outages across Kyiv and surrounding regions for several hours. Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched 310 drones, including 81 jet-powered models, overnight. The air force stated it downed or suppressed 272 of them. Residents in the capital were urged to use public drinking water fountains until services were restored. Emergency centers in the hardest-hit areas offered hot tea and electricity for charging devices.

Diplomatic efforts are intensifying ahead of a new round of U.S.-brokered peace negotiations scheduled for next week. Officials from the United States, Germany, France, Britain, NATO, and the European Union met at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday. The talks, expected to continue into Thursday, focus on postwar security arrangements and reconstruction needs. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas stated the discussions aim to define European demands for Russian concessions, moving beyond previous talks that focused only on what Ukraine should give away.

Zelenskyy also awarded U.S. first lady Melania Trump the Order of Princess Olga, 1st class. The honor recognizes her humanitarian support and role in brokering a six-day ceasefire in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky. The truce allowed the evacuation of residents from the city. The Kremlin expressed hope that President Donald Trump will continue his peace efforts regardless of the U.S. midterm election results, which saw Democrats take control of Congress.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine announced on Wednesday that it uncovered a criminal plot involving senior officials from the security service, prosecutor general’s office, and national police. The officials are alleged to have taken kickbacks from the criminal underworld in exchange for protecting fraudulent call centers, drug sales, and illegal cigarette and currency operations. This follows the September resignation of former Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko over a related scheme.