Russian strikes on Zaporizhzhia killed at least 15 people, including three children, and injured 16 others on Saturday, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, as rescue teams continued searching damaged buildings for survivors.
The southeastern Ukrainian city was hit by five guided aerial bombs early on Saturday, Ukrainian national police said. The bombs targeted residential areas, with two striking blocks of flats.
One of the bombs completely destroyed the entrance to a three-storey apartment building, the State Emergency Service, known by its Ukrainian abbreviation DSNS, reported. Other buildings and private homes were also damaged.
Emergency crews extinguished a fire at the scene and began clearing rubble while searching for people who might still be trapped beneath the debris. Rescue and search operations were continuing, the service said.
“Medical staff are doing everything they can to help everyone,” regional governor Ivan Fedorov wrote in a post on Telegram.
The attack came after a night of further Russian drone strikes across Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched 160 drones overnight. Ukrainian air defences shot down or neutralised 117 unmanned aerial vehicles by 9 a.m., including Shahed-type drones, 82 of which were jet-powered, as well as Gerber and other models.
The air force said strikes had been recorded at 14 locations. The figures were provided by Ukrainian authorities, and independent verification was not included in the initial reports.
The latest deaths in Zaporizhzhia also came amid a political dispute over a reported agreement involving Russian diesel supplies to the United States and the wider global market.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticised the announcement, describing such concessions to Moscow as “gifts to Putin” and arguing that allowing Russia to sell petroleum products could help sustain its war effort.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he had held what he described as a “highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin.” Trump said the two leaders had agreed that Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel fuel to the American and global markets, with additional supplies expected to follow.
Zelenskyy rejected the prospect of easing opportunities for Russian petroleum sales while the war continues. In a post on X, he warned that “gifts to Putin will not bring peace or any benefit to the civilized world.”
“Allowing Russia to sell petroleum products is an investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged,” he wrote, calling instead for genuine de-escalation with Russia on a reciprocal basis.
The two developments highlight the continuing human cost of Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian communities and the wider diplomatic disagreements over how to bring the war to an end. In Zaporizhzhia, emergency workers were still searching damaged buildings as authorities dealt with the casualties and the destruction left by the strikes.
