The death toll from the Russian aerial bombardment on an aid distribution point in Komyshuvakha has risen to 26, Ukrainian emergency officials confirmed as search teams continue to clear heavy debris.

Rescuers recovered two additional bodies from the wreckage of the shelter and school site in the Zaporizhzhia region, following an attack carried out with heavy guided aerial bombs.

Emergency crews, police, and military personnel are still searching the site for remaining missing residents, with operations repeatedly disrupted by incoming Russian reconnaissance and strike drone threats.

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Russia’s disinformation war on the UK has reached new highs as Kremlin-backed media seek to sow chaos amongst Britons and ramp up attacks on their “main adversary”, experts warn.

In the past six months, state-affiliated media have pushed hundreds of thousands of stories on social media portraying Britain as ungovernable, defenceless, and a legitimate Russian target, The Independent can reveal.

Analysis by risk intelligence firm Osavul, which tracks global hybrid threats and supplies technology to Nato, shows such media output rose by around 15 per cent in September, when it produced around 40,365 stories about the UK, while similar levels of disinformation pushed in October.

The fifth-generation Su-57 multipurpose fighter blew up during engine startup at Akhtubinsk military airbase on October 29, the Defense Intelligence Directorate (HUR) reported.

It was unclear what caused the incident, but HUR said the engines can undergo “catastrophic destruction” when filled with poor quality fuel.

The costly jet has been used sparingly in Ukraine, launching long-range stand-off missiles from Russian-controlled airspace. Analysts estimate Russia currently uses fewer than 30 Su-57s, having received only around 20 between 2020 and 2025, according to RUSI.

Russia has suffered a string of losses in recent weeks, with Ukraine last month claiming to have damaged six Su-34M medium bombers in strikes on the Borisoglebsk airfield in Voronezh region.

Delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States are expected to sit down for talks aimed at ending the nearly five year war later this week, although specifics are yet to be confirmed.

Millions of Americans will go to the polls on November 3 in what will be seen as a verdict on Trump’s first two years back in office.

Gergana Krasteva reports on the impact the pivotal election could have beyond the United States:

At least 24 people, including two emergency rescue workers and four police officers, have been killed after Russian forces struck a humanitarian aid distribution hub in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

Regional administration head Mykhailo Semikin reported that at least nine 3,000kg aerial bombs struck the village of Komyshuvakha.

President Volodymyr Zelensky described the bombardment as “utterly horrific,” stating that Russian jets launched a secondary strike targeting a shelter where civilians and responders had taken cover following an initial hit on a local school.

“The Russians could not have been unaware that the local residents who remained in Komyshuvakha received humanitarian aid there every week,” Zelenskyy said, adding that the strike shows Moscow rejects de-escalation immediately following the conclusion of the Oleshky evacuation truce.

Trawlers are finding the animals suffocated and entangled in their nets and cutting off their fins to release them, leaving them to wash ashore with the net marks still visible.

Ivan Rusev, head researcher at the Tuzly Lagoons national park in southern Ukraine, told Al Jazeera more than 120,000 dolphins have died this way since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Civilians in Ukraine’s southeastern Kherson region prepared Sunday for the end of a localized ceasefire that has marked the most significant truce between Kyiv and Moscow since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine 4½ years ago.

The White House said U.S. first lady Melania Trump helped to broker the limited truce, which began early Tuesday and is expected to end Sunday evening. The pause in hostilities allowed besieged residents in the front-line city of Oleshky to be evacuated in a rare joint operation that ended Saturday.

An estimated 2,000 civilians were in Oleshky when the temporary truce took hold. They were offered the choice of evacuating to territory controlled by Ukraine or Russia, or remaining in the city with replenished food and medical supplies. For the safety of those who have stayed, exact numbers were not released after the evacuation.

Hypersonica has raised €100 million (£83.5m) in its efforts to develop the deep-strike missiles to strengthen Europe’s defence against a growing Russian threat, the Financial Times reported, coming at a crucial moment as Washington urges the continent to be more responsible for its own security.

“The debate over whether Europe needs these kinds of deterrence capabilities is over. It’s absolutely clear we need them,” Philipp Kerth, the chief executive of the company, told the outlet.