Russian bombs hit a humanitarian aid point in Komyshuvakha, a frontline village in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, on Monday, Nov. 2. Hours later, US envoy Steve Witkoff announced Abu Dhabi talks between Ukraine and Russia for Nov. 10 and 11, the first US-mediated round since February.
The death toll has kept rising. At 12:18 in Kyiv on Tuesday, the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration put it at 31 on its Telegram channel, up from 29 overnight. Its acting head, Mykhailo Semikin, said five people had injuries and nearly 50 remained missing, Ukrinform reported.
Semikin called it one of the deadliest tragedies in the region since the full-scale invasion began. Eight days later, Kyiv’s negotiators sit down with Moscow’s. The agenda Witkoff published leaves out territory, the issue that has blocked every round so far.
Nine strikes on a village 20 km from the front
Komyshuvakha lies about 20 km from the front line, according to the Kyiv Independent. Residents who stayed gathered there every week to collect aid packages. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces “could not have been unaware” of that, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported.
The regional administration said Russian aircraft struck at least nine times. They dropped FAB-500 guided bombs first, then FAB-3000s, three-tonne bombs that carry nearly 1.5 tonnes of explosives. Semikin said the military uses such weapons against concrete fortifications and bunkers. After a direct hit, the concrete structure of the underground centre collapsed, his administration said.
The administration also corrected its own description of the site. Local people collected aid there, it said. The space had held an underground school until February, when classes stopped. Zelenskyy said the first bombs fell as people arrived, and a second wave hit the shelter.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said two of its rescuers and four police officers died. Zaporizhzhia region is observing three days of mourning, from Nov. 3 to 5.
Moscow has not commented on Komyshuvakha
Russia made no immediate comment on the strike, Al Jazeera reported, citing Reuters. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces shot down 212 Ukrainian drones overnight. On Tuesday it claimed a “massive strike” on energy facilities across Ukraine and on ports in the Odesa region, AFP reported via RTÉ.
That overnight barrage hit other cities. Regional authorities in Kharkiv counted 73 people injured, and a medical facility there took damage, the Kyiv Post reported. In Dnipro, Mayor Borys Filatov said a strike hit a thermal power plant.
Zelenskyy had warned on Monday of a coming “massive attack” on energy and logistics, timed to the US midterms. A day earlier, hackers sent fake radiation warnings through Ukraine’s Air Alert app and a Russian emergencies app.
What Witkoff put on the table
Witkoff announced the round on X on Monday, hours after the strike. “The United States will mediate working-level negotiations between Ukraine and Russia on 10-11 November in Abu Dhabi,” he wrote, according to Ukrainska Pravda. “Discussions will focus on post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts, and next steps toward peace.”
He promised to build “on the progress made in Kyiv, Oslo, and St Petersburg.” He did not say what that progress was. Putin agreed to resume three-way talks after meeting Witkoff in St Petersburg on Oct. 21, Al Jazeera reported. Late in October, Zelenskyy met Witkoff and European leaders in Oslo, Ukrainska Pravda reported.
A European leg comes first. This week US negotiators meet French, German, British, EU and NATO officials in Brussels. Security guarantees for Ukraine and reconstruction top that list, The National reported.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the dates on Tuesday. “The Russian delegation will arrive on November 10-11 in Abu Dhabi to take part in trilateral talks,” he said, according to AFP.
A senior US official told Reuters that Witkoff and Jared Kushner will likely lead the US side, The Moscow Times reported. Kyiv had not named its team by Tuesday afternoon.
Medinsky returns, and the gaps have not moved
The clearest change from the first Abu Dhabi round is Moscow’s negotiator. Peskov said Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky will lead Russia’s delegation.
In January, Russia sent military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said, according to LIGA.net. Medinsky led Russia’s side in Istanbul in 2025 and in Geneva in February. Those rounds produced prisoner swaps and no ceasefire.
The positions sit where they were. Putin wants all of Donetsk region as the price of any ceasefire, and Kyiv has repeatedly refused, The Moscow Times reported. Zelenskyy rejects neutrality or caps on Ukraine’s army. Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko says Ukraine must drop its NATO ambitions and bar foreign troops, according to the Kyiv Post.
Read against that record, “working-level” talks on “humanitarian efforts” point to what these rounds reliably deliver: swaps of prisoners and of the dead. Zelenskyy wants more. On Monday he urged Washington to press Russia until it has no alternative to ending the war.
Washington has eased pressure on Moscow in places, letting Russian diesel into the US under a Treasury waiver. Trump has also urged Kyiv to stop striking Russian oil depots, The National reported. And Ukraine spent October fighting over its Starlink speed cap.
Where talks stand: every round since May 2025
May 16, 2025, Istanbul. Ukraine’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov, and Medinsky agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners each, Meduza reported.
June 2, 2025, Istanbul. Russia tabled terms that included Ukraine pulling out of four regions Moscow claims. Both sides agreed to swap all badly wounded and young prisoners and to return about 6,000 bodies, per Al Jazeera.
July 23, 2025, Istanbul. A 40-minute session produced a deal to swap at least 1,200 prisoners each, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported. Medinsky said the two sides remained “quite far apart.”
Jan. 23-24, 2026, Abu Dhabi. The first three-way round put the US in the room. Witkoff, Kushner, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll and NATO commander Alexus Grynkewich attended. After the first day, Zelenskyy said it was “too early to draw conclusions,” LIGA.net reported.
Feb. 4-5, 2026, Abu Dhabi. The delegations agreed a 314-prisoner swap, 157 each, the first in almost five months, the Kyiv Independent reported.
Feb. 18, 2026, Geneva. A two-day round ended without a breakthrough. Medinsky called it “difficult, but business-like.” Zelenskyy said Russia was “trying to drag out negotiations,” per Novaya Gazeta Europe.
Talks then stalled. The last US-mediated round came before the US and Israel went to war with Iran, Al Jazeera noted.
In Komyshuvakha, rescuers are still searching for nearly 50 missing people. The delegations are due in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, Nov. 10.
