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The State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported that the death toll from the Russian guided aerial bomb strikes on Zaporizhzhia had risen to 15 including three children while 16 others were injured including two children. Five glide bombs hit residential areas in the Shevchenkivskyi and Voznesenivskyi districts early on October 10 with one reducing part of a five-story apartment block to rubble. According to the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration at least 26 residential buildings were damaged along with non-residential premises and search and rescue operations involving more than 80 workers remained underway as some people were still listed as missing.
President Volodymyr Zelensky linked the assault to a fresh agreement between the United States and Russia stating that the strikes came just hours after President Donald Trump announced a deal to import Russian diesel. Zelensky said the attack represented Russia’s response to the easing of sanctions and added that Ukraine’s responses to these Russian strikes will come. The Ukrainian leader had earlier described the glide bomb assault as Russia’s thanks for the lifting of restrictions on diesel exports.
Regional officials updated casualty figures repeatedly through the morning as bodies were recovered from the debris. Ivan Fedorov co-chair of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Defense Council said three of those killed were children while among the injured were a 12-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl both in moderate condition. Acting regional administration head Mykhailo Semikin reported that two of the wounded were in serious condition with four hospitalized and others receiving outpatient treatment.
The strike formed part of a pattern of intensified Russian aerial attacks on the city which lies less than 30 kilometres from the frontline and has faced repeated glide bomb and drone assaults in recent months according to Reuters reporting on prior incidents. Nearly 80 civilians were killed across Ukraine in Russian strikes over two days earlier in the week a tally compiled from regional authorities and emergency services. A similar Russian air strike on Zaporizhzhia the previous day killed one person and injured two according to acting governor figures shared with Reuters.
Local acting mayor Regina Kharchenko speaking from the scene told Ukrainian television that the ground floor of one building was hit causing upper floors to collapse and that rescuers paused periodically to listen for sounds from anyone trapped under the rubble. Kharchenko described the deaths of children in the attack as awful grief for their families and for the city adding that Russia had struck at its very heart. Emergency crews pulled at least one woman alive from the wreckage and continued operations expected to last through the day.
Ukrainian investigators from the Security Service opened a pre-trial probe into the incident classifying it as a war crime under the relevant article of the criminal code according to regional authorities. The industrial hub has seen its civilian infrastructure repeatedly targeted throughout the conflict now in its fifth year with earlier glide bomb attacks in June and August also producing casualties as documented in Reuters dispatches. No immediate comment on the latest Zaporizhzhia strike was issued by Russian officials.
