Russian strikes hit village where aid was being handed out at a school, at least 26 killed in Ukraine

At least 26 people have been killed in Russian strikes on a village in southern Ukraine where humanitarian aid was being distributed at a local school. The attack came just hours after a locally agreed ceasefire expired, and Kyiv says it has dashed the faint hopes of progress toward peace that the truce had raised. The French news agency AFP reported the news.

The rare ceasefire had been arranged for the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky so that humanitarian aid could be delivered, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump. The truce began on Tuesday and ended on Sunday. Neither side accused the other of violating it while it was in force.

Within hours of the ceasefire ending, Russia launched repeated strikes on a village in the Zaporizhzhia region adjoining Kherson. At least 26 people were killed, according to the region's acting governor, Mykhailo Semikin.

Several of the dead had gone to the local school to receive humanitarian aid. Two rescuers and four police officers were also among those killed, Semikin said on Telegram.

Video released by Ukraine's emergency services showed the school building reduced to smoking rubble, with rescue workers operating at the scene.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said humanitarian aid was distributed there every Monday. As soon as people arrived, Russia launched the first attack, he said, dropping bombs from several aircraft. A second attack followed, with more bombs aimed at a shelter.

The emergency services named the two dead rescuers as Denis Konovalenko and Oleksiy Sushevsky, both aged 44. In a statement, the agency said they went out every day to help people, worked in dangerous conditions and risked their own lives to save others.

Zelensky said the Oleshky ceasefire had created a possibility of progress toward peace — a moment when the next steps could have shown where such progress was possible. With this killing, he said, Russia is sending the completely opposite message: Russia is relying on more killing, and that must be answered.

Ukraine's military accuses Russia of using the ceasefire to strengthen its positions. The Kremlin did not deny the accusation. On Monday, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that in such a situation this was 'completely normal practice'.

Peskov alleged that in the past Ukraine's army had also used pauses in the fighting to regroup. He added that Moscow regards the Oleshky humanitarian aid operation as a success.