Russian forces bombed a humanitarian aid distribution centre and an adjoining shelter in southern Ukraine on Monday, killing 26 people, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow's attacks continued despite recent efforts to ease the fighting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X that the strikes initially hit a school building being used to distribute humanitarian assistance before targeting a nearby shelter.
"This is further proof that Russia wants no de-escalation," Zelenskyy said.
The attacks took place in the village of Komyshuvakha in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, coinciding with the expiry of a limited ceasefire in the Kherson region, also in southern Ukraine.
The temporary truce had facilitated humanitarian aid deliveries and evacuation missions in frontline areas of Russian-occupied territory.
"There was a moment when the next steps could have shown that progress toward peace was possible," Zelenskyy said. "With these killings, Russia is sending an entirely opposite signal: Russia is counting on more killings."
In a subsequent address to the nation, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was expecting an escalation of Russian attacks at a time when the country was facing a shortage of missiles needed for its air defence.
As darkness fell in Komyshuvakha, emergency workers searched through the rubble of collapsed buildings using flashlights, according to photographs and videos shared by local officials.
Around 20 people remained missing, raising fears that the death toll could increase, officials said.
Rescue operations on Monday evening faced further difficulties as Russian drones launched additional attacks in the same area, according to Mykhailo Semikin, a military official in Zaporizhzhia.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, authorities reported several Russian drone attacks that left at least 17 people injured.
Cyberattacks trigger fake emergency alerts in Ukraine, Russia
Meanwhile, residents in Ukraine and Russia received false emergency notifications through government-operated mobile applications after the systems were hacked, authorities in the two countries said.
In Ukraine, the fake messages included warnings of an imminent nuclear threat.
It remained unclear whether the cyberattacks, which occurred late Sunday in Ukraine and early Monday in Russia, were connected.
Ukraine said its emergency alert application, which residents use to receive warnings about Russian missile and drone attacks, had resumed operations after being temporarily suspended. Russian authorities, however, said efforts to restore their emergency alert application were still underway.
A Russian Telegram channel linked to the country's security services reported on Monday that a hacking group called Hitcore had claimed responsibility for breaching Ukraine's emergency alert system.
The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim, while the hackers' affiliations and motives remained unknown.
The fake notifications sent to Ukrainian users contained false warnings about high radiation levels, a chemical threat and public disturbances in Kyiv. The messages were written in English, Russian and Ukrainian, with spelling and grammatical errors in the English-language versions.
One message in Russian read: "Hi! There will be a nuclear threat across Ukraine. Do not worry, the Oreshnik is incoming," referring to a Russian ballistic missile.
There were few indications that the false alerts had caused widespread panic. Instead, social media users responded with humorous posts, sharing pictures of their relaxed pets and artificial intelligence-generated images depicting apocalyptic scenes.
Yurii Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine's air force command, said in a television interview that the cyberattack had not affected the country's security and defence operations.
The government urged people to follow other emergency information channels on social media while efforts to address the breach were underway.
In Russia, the Emergency Situations Ministry said hackers had distributed a false alert through its mobile application at around 2:45 am Moscow time on Monday, affecting 33 of the country's 89 regions.
The ministry did not identify those responsible for the attack.
It sought to reassure the public, saying the country's broader emergency warning system remained operational through SMS notifications, media broadcasts, municipal sirens and loudspeakers.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called on government agencies to strengthen the protection of their digital systems.
"All government bodies must take steps to improve the cybersecurity of our digital resources," he said.
Limited ceasefire expires in Kherson
As the temporary ceasefire in Ukraine's Kherson region expired on Monday, Ukraine's General Staff accused Russian forces of using the pause in fighting to strengthen their drone defences and replenish ammunition supplies.
The brief truce, which began on October 27, was part of a humanitarian aid and evacuation operation in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky.
It marked the most significant ceasefire arrangement between Kyiv and Moscow since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly five years ago.
Meanwhile, emergency services reported that Russian drone strikes in the eastern Kharkiv region injured 12 people and damaged a refrigeration facility, greenhouses and residential buildings.
Five more people were injured in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, where a warehouse was targeted and several homes were damaged.
Russia's Defence Ministry said on Monday that its air defences had intercepted 212 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, governor of Russia's Samara region, said local air defence systems were responding to an aerial attack but provided no further details.
Independent Russian media outlets later reported that Ukrainian drones had targeted one of Europe's largest oil transportation hubs in the Samara region.
US-mediated Russia-Ukraine talks planned for next week
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, to be mediated by Washington, were scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11.
In a post on X, Witkoff said the discussions would focus on postwar security arrangements, de-escalation and humanitarian issues.
Russia agreed last month to resume trilateral negotiations with the United States and Ukraine aimed at ending the war, paving the way for the first such talks since February. However, no date had been announced at that time.
Witkoff also said US mediators would meet officials from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO in Brussels this week.
The discussions would focus on security guarantees for Ukraine and the wider region, as well as assistance for rebuilding the war-ravaged country.