Reuters

 

 

Russia has attacked the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with five glide bombs, killing at least 20 people including four children, local officials said.

The glide bombs hit residential buildings in the southern city on Saturday morning. At least 32 others were injured in the attack, with more still missing and believed to be under the rubble.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks on Zaporizhzhia were Russia expressing "its thanks" for a deal announced by US President Donald Trump last night easing sanctions on Moscow to import Russian diesel.

He added that 13 other regions had come under attack overnight, arguing this demonstrated Russia took "any easing of pressure to mean they can keep fighting".

Photos and videos from the site of one of the strikes in Zaporizhzhia show an apartment block mostly destroyed.

"The ground floor was hit, and the floors above just collapsed," acting Mayor Regina Harchenko told Ukrainian television from the scene.

She said more than 80 workers were involved in ongoing search and rescue operations which are expected to continue throughout the day.

The rescuers regularly stop to listen for any noises made by survivors who could be under the rubble.

Harchenko said Russia had struck at "our very heart" and "our littlest ones" were among those killed, adding that their deaths were "awful grief for their families. For the city."

Zaporizhzhia is a major regional centre with more than 700,000 residents. It is located less than 10 miles (16km) from the front line and is frequently attacked by Russian drones and missiles.

Zelensky was quick to criticise Trump's diesel deal with Russia, calling it a gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts view the deal as an attempt by the US president to allay domestic concerns about high fuel prices ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.

Zelensky wrote on social media on Saturday that Russian attacks on energy facilities in the capital, Kyiv, demonstrated Russia's "true intentions".

"Russia's choice is war. And they will be ready to end it only when they feel that their ability to drag the war out is diminishing.

"Unfortunately, the signals Russia received yesterday were entirely different – signals suggesting that it could simply keep attacking. And this needs to be corrected."

Both Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks on infrastructure in recent months, as Moscow's full-scale invasion, launched in 2022, drags on.

On Thursday, at least 33 people were killed in another Russian glide bomb attack on two civilian buses in Kramatorsk, in the eastern Donetsk region.

The day before, 22 people including five children died as a Russian missile hit an apartment block in the town of Pryluky, east of Kyiv.

The number of civilian casualties in Ukraine jumped by 55% in the first eight months of this year, according to the UN.

Russia has also stepped up its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure as winter approaches, a strategy it has undertaken in previous years. Kyiv has repeatedly accused it of targeting Ukraine's civilian population, which Moscow denies.

For its part, Ukraine has increasingly adopted a policy of striking infrastructure often deep inside Russia that is crucial to its economy, including several oil refineries and terminals.

Several strikes on data centres owned by Yandex have left the tech giant struggling to maintain services.

Kyiv says its strikes are aimed at curtailing revenue streams for Russia's war machine.

 

SOURCE/AUTHOR : BBC NEWS/Vitaly Shevchenko and Tom Mc Arthur