Russian overnight strikes pummeled Ukraine on Tuesday, according to authorities, as renewed fighting dimmed prospects for peace in the nearly five-year war.
Strikes across the country killed dozens, forced medical facility evacuations and triggered a wave of ballistic missile alerts.
In Russia, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defenses destroyed nearly 500 drones heading toward the capital region.
The attacks followed a rare pause in the fighting between Russia and Ukraine in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, which ended Sunday.
The truce, the longest of the war that began in February 2022, enabled a humanitarian mission to the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky.
Hours after the local cease-fire ended, Russia targeted a village in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, killing at least 26 people, the acting regional governor said.
Tuesday, authorities in Zaporizhzhia said Russian bombing killed 29 people.
Zaporizhzhia regional military administration head Ivan Fedorov accused Moscow of “striking people who came to receive humanitarian aid.”
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, regional military administration head Oleg Synegubov said a Russian strike hit a medical facility, wounding 25 and forcing about 200 patients to evacuate. The strike also damaged a building, its windows and nearby cars.
Ukraine’s military warned of ballistic missiles heading toward Kharkiv and other parts of the country, including the capital Kyiv, Dnipro and Sumy.
The site of a Russian airstrike in the frontline town of Komyshuvakha, in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Nov. 2, 2026. (Reuters Photo)
Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Oleksandr Ganzha said a Russian strike hit critical infrastructure in Dnipro, as well as in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown, Kryvyi Rih.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday it carried out a “massive strike” on energy facilities across Ukraine and port infrastructure in the Odesa region.
Ukraine’s neighbor Poland said it activated air defenses to protect its airspace, particularly in border areas.
The strikes came as Britain and France announced about 2,800 troops from 10 European countries would stage military exercises this month in support of Ukraine.
The soldiers from 10 European countries would meet in Poland for the first exercise of a new multinational force. However, the force has no offensive mission and would only be deployed once a cease-fire is agreed to end the conflict.
As the conflict entered its fifth year, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said Tuesday that Washington-led talks between Russia and Ukraine would resume next week in a fresh push for diplomacy.
President Donald Trump pushed for a settlement to the war, but no breakthrough materialized.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed the deadly Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia Monday, saying it hit a school distributing humanitarian aid.
“There was a moment when the next steps after the Oleshky truce could have shown progress toward peace was possible,” he said.
“With these killings, Russia is sending an entirely opposite signal: Russia is counting on more killings. There must be a response to this.”
Acting Regional Gov. Mykhailo Semikin said in a Telegram post that two rescue workers and four police officers were among the dead.
Last week’s cease-fire, brokered by U.S. first lady Melania Trump, enabled evacuations from Russian-occupied Oleshky to both Ukraine-controlled territory and Moscow-annexed Crimea.
Ukrainian servicemen stand near an underground shelter at a compound of a local school, which was used as a humanitarian aid hub and was hit by a Russian airstrike in Komyshuvakha, Ukraine, Nov. 2, 2026. (Reuters Photo)
A senior Ukrainian figure said Sunday that Russia refused a Ukrainian offer to extend the truce.
Ukraine’s military also alleged that Moscow used the pause in fighting to “fortify its positions.”
The Kremlin did not deny the accusations, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters Monday: “This is a completely normal practice in such situations.”
He alleged the Ukrainian military also used pauses in fighting in the past to regroup.
Peskov added that Moscow viewed the Oleshky humanitarian mission as “successful,” praising “good cooperation between all sides” and singling out its human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, for her role.
Lantratova oversaw the cease-fire alongside her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Lubinets in one of the most substantial instances of Russian-Ukrainian cooperation since the start of the war.
The Kremlin said that no other similar missions were planned currently.
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