Five glide bombs launched by Russia struck residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia on Saturday morning, killing at least 15 people, including three children, President Volodymyr Zelensky and emergency services confirmed.
The bombs hit the south‑eastern city’s apartment blocks, destroying the ground floor and causing upper floors to collapse. Acting Mayor Regina Kharchenko reported that more than 80 workers were engaged in search and rescue, expecting operations to continue all day.
At least 16 people were injured, with several others missing and believed trapped under rubble. Kharchenko said the strike hit “our very heart” and that the loss of children was an “awful grief for their families.”
Zelensky warned that 13 other regions had also been hit overnight and vowed that Ukraine’s response to the strikes would come. He criticised President Donald Trump’s recent diesel‑import deal with Russia, calling it a gift to Putin that “amounts to an investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged.”
The attack follows a surge in Russian strikes on civilian targets, including a glide‑bomb raid on two buses in Kramatorsk that killed 33 people and a missile strike on Pryluky that killed 22, including five children. The UN reports a 55% rise in Ukrainian civilian casualties in the first eight months of the year.
Zaporizhzhia, home to more than 700,000 residents and located less than 10 miles from the front line, has been a frequent target of Russian drones and missiles. Ukraine has meanwhile intensified attacks on Russian infrastructure, most recently striking data centres owned by Yandex.
Ukraine’s next steps will involve continued counter‑attacks on Russian infrastructure and a call for international pressure to end the conflict. The international community watches closely as civilian casualties rise.
