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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- Russia bombed an aid distribution center and neighboring shelter in southern Ukraine on Monday, killing 26 people, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X that strikes first targeted a school building used to distribute humanitarian aid and then took aim at a nearby shelter.
"This is further proof that Russia wants no de-escalation," Zelenskyy said.
The attacks in the village of Komyshuvakha, in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, occurred as a limited ceasefire expired Monday in Kherson, a different region in the country's south. The limited ceasefire agreement had allowed humanitarian aid and evacuation missions into front-line areas in Russian-occupied territory.
"There was a moment when the next steps could have shown that progress toward peace was possible," Zelenskyy said. "With these killings, Russia is sending an entirely opposite signal: Russia is counting on more killings."
Zelenskyy later said in an address to the nation that Ukraine was expecting Russia to escalate its attacks at a time when the country is facing a shortage of missiles needed to defend itself.
As night fell in Komyshuvakha, emergency responders used flashlights to search through the rubble of collapsed buildings, according to photos and video posted online by local officials. About 20 people are considered missing and the death toll could rise, these officials say.
Efforts to rescue people Monday evening were hindered as Russian drones launched additional attacks in the area that had been bombed, according to Mykhailo Semikin, a military official in Zaporizhzhia.
In other areas of Ukraine, authorities reported multiple Russian drone attacks that injured at least 17 people.
After cyberattacks, false alerts sent in Ukraine and Russia
Earlier, residents of Ukraine and Russia had received phony emergency alerts from government-run mobile apps that were hacked, authorities in both countries said. The phony alerts in Ukraine included a warning about an imminent nuclear threat.
It was not clear if the cyberattacks late Sunday in Ukraine and early Monday in Russia were related. Ukraine said its mobile app, which residents rely on to seek safety from Russian missile and drone strikes, was up and running again after being temporarily suspended. Russian authorities said efforts to restore its emergency alert mobile app were ongoing.
A Russian Telegram channel with links to the country's security services said Monday that a hacking group, Hitcore, claimed responsibility for the breach of the Ukrainian emergency alert system. The Associated Press did not independently verify the claim, and the affiliations or motivations of the purported hackers remained unclear.
The alerts received by Ukrainians -- making false claims of high radiation levels, a chemical threat and public disturbances in Kyiv -- were written in English, Russian and Ukrainian. The English language alerts contained spelling and grammatical errors.