War in Ukraine: Kyiv power outages follow deadly strike on village

Residents in Kyiv faced hours without electricity and running water on Wednesday after a series of Russian airstrikes. Emergency crews set up temporary centers in the hardest-hit districts to provide hot drinks and charging stations for phones. The outages followed a large-scale aerial offensive that began overnight.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that the death toll in the village of Komyshuvakha had risen to 40. The strike occurred on Monday when multiple Russian guided bombs struck a former school and a nearby shelter in the Zaporizhzhia region. At the time, residents were gathered there waiting for humanitarian aid. Zelenskyy said 30 additional people may still be buried under the rubble.

The village is located near the front line. Mykhailo Semikin, the acting head of the regional military administration, stated that Russian drones continued to hamper search operations on the third day. Ivan Fedorov, co-chair of the regional defense council, reported that 12 bodies had been identified so far. Police noted that visual identification was not possible for all victims, so specialists collected DNA samples from relatives.

Body camera footage from a police officer killed in the attack captured the moment of impact. The video shows the officer descending stairs into an underground shelter after the nearby aid distribution center was struck. He is heard telling survivors to move inside. Shortly after he enters the low-ceilinged room, a rumble is heard and the video ends.

Vladyslav Makhovskyi, a Baptist pastor who joined the search on Tuesday, described the scene as bodies were carried from the ruins on white plastic sheets. He said many victims were killed immediately, while others may have suffocated because they could not escape the debris.

Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched 310 drones overnight, including 81 jet-powered models. The air force stated it downed or suppressed 272 of them. Such attacks have become a regular part of life despite 2024 arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court for two senior Russian officers accused of overseeing strikes on civilian infrastructure.

In Brussels, officials from the United States, Germany, France, Britain, NATO, the World Bank, and the European Union met to discuss postwar reconstruction. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the closed-door session focused on European demands for Russian concessions. She noted that previous discussions had focused mostly on what Ukraine should give away. The meeting took place ahead of new U.S.-brokered peace negotiations scheduled for next week.

Zelenskyy 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 occupied city of Oleshky in the Kherson region. The truce allowed residents to evacuate the shattered city. It was the most substantial break in fighting between Kyiv and Moscow since 2022.

The Kremlin expressed hope that President Donald Trump will continue efforts to end the war regardless of the U.S. midterm election results. Separately, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine announced it uncovered a plot involving senior officials from the security service, prosecutor general’s office, and national police. These officials allegedly took kickbacks to protect fraudulent call centers and illegal trade operations.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed it shot down 709 Ukrainian drones overnight. The online retailer Ozon reported that a drone attack caused a fire at its logistics center in Adygeysk, Russia. The company said there were no casualties from the incident.