Ukraine war briefing: race to free dozens trapped under rubble of Russian strikes on aid hub

Thirty-three people were killed and more than 50 could be trapped in rubble a day after multiple Russian strikes on a Ukrainian village, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday, calling it one of Moscow’s worst attacks of the war. Rescue operations were ongoing in the frontline south-eastern village of Komyshuvakha, where Russian forces had struck a former school building that Ukraine said was being used to distribute aid. The attack hit after a ceasefire held for several days in the Kherson region, Pjotr Saeur reports, allowing for a rare humanitarian mission.

Russia bombarded Ukraine’s ⁠energy infrastructure in waves on Tuesday, knocking out power to swathes of the country with dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones, a week before US-brokered peace talks were due to resume. Zelenskyy said Russia had launched 289 drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles overnight, hitting power plants and substations from the Black Sea port of Odesa in the south to Rivne in the west. Ukraine’s largest private generating company, DTEK, said three of its five thermal power plants had been knocked offline. The Kyiv ‌mayor, Vitali Klitschko, writing on Telegram, described the situation with power in the city as “extremely difficult”.

A further suspect has been arrested in connection with a fire at a Polish Starlink station in September, German prosecutors said Tuesday. The Turkish national was detained in the southern German city of Reutlingen, three weeks after two other Turkish suspects were also arrested in Germany over the same case. The two men arrested in October are in custody ahead of their possible extradition to Poland. Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has called the fire an “act of hybrid warfare”, at a time when Ukraine’s allies have accused Moscow of such hybrid attacks.

Ukraine has opened an investigation into reports a group of alleged army deserters had been held against their will, an incident that renewed focus on the sensitive issue of military conscription during Russia’s invasion. The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) announced the probe after reports circulated on social media of “the allegedly illegal detention of soldiers” at a house in the Kyiv region, it said in a statement on Tuesday. Agence France-Presse reported videos circulating on social media showed angry crowds outside the house, where the SBI said clashes had erupted.

Management at Ukraine’s Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant ⁠said on Tuesday that a Ukrainian drone had killed two people ⁠in a car, ⁠including a ​female employee. The statement gave no indication where the ⁠incident occurred. It said the employee was the third killed in the past ⁠two weeks and the 13th since April. “Attacks on ​civilian cars, killing ‌of peaceful ‌people – this is targeted terrorism. People must not ‌become targets,” the statement said. Ukraine did not comment.

Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the Czech Republic will refuse to play Russia at the next year’s men’s Ice Hockey world championship in Germany due to safety concerns and ⁠geopolitical tensions, their national federations said ⁠Tuesday. The Court of ​Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled last week to allow Russia to compete in International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) events again, overturning the governing body’s decision to exclude Russian teams following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.