Five killed in Zaporizhzhia in reported Russian glide-bomb attack
Ukrainian officials said strikes hit Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Russia was preparing a larger assault.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
2 min read
Russian glide bombs struck Zaporizhzhia on Saturday, killing five people and injuring 11, Ukrainian regional governor Ivan Fedorov said. The attack added to a widening round of air assaults as Ukraine’s president warned residents to heed air raid alerts.
Fedorov said on Telegram that the number of wounded was still increasing after strikes hit residential and non-residential buildings in the southeastern Ukrainian city. He said local administration specialists were recording the damage and utility crews were working to deal with the aftermath.
A Reuters photograph from the scene showed a police officer and a rescuer clearing debris at an administrative building that had been hit in Zaporizhzhia.
Kharkiv and Kherson report casualties
In Kharkiv, an aerial attack earlier on Saturday killed one person and wounded nine, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. He said a guided aerial bomb hit a residential area in the eastern city and left a woman trapped beneath rubble.
Terekhov later said on Telegram that search and rescue teams had found the body of a person killed under the remains of a destroyed building.
Authorities in the southern Kherson region also reported a drone strike in Zelenivka, saying a 72-year-old woman was wounded.
Al Jazeera, citing AFP and Reuters, reported that the strikes came during a period of stepped-up attacks by both Russia and Ukraine, while efforts to end the war have stalled.
Zelenskyy warns of further strikes
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used his nightly address to warn that Russia was preparing what he called a “massive attack.” He urged people in Ukraine to pay close attention to air raid warnings overnight and in the hours ahead.
Zelenskyy also said Ukrainian forces had struck an oil refinery in Russia’s Tyumen region, in western Siberia.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Saturday morning that its air defences had destroyed 187 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles across the country overnight.
Al Jazeera reported that the latest drone activity followed Ukraine’s largest drone attack on Moscow two days earlier. That attack sparked fires, hit a major oil refinery and forced evacuations at Russia’s largest airport, according to the report.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.