Russian glide bombs kill at least 20, including three children, in Zaporizhzhia residential buildings

Russian forces struck residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia with at least five glide bombs on Saturday morning, killing at least 20 people including three children, Ukrainian officials said. Another 18 to 32 people were injured. Search-and-rescue teams were still working through the rubble on Sunday. One five-storey apartment building suffered a direct hit that collapsed floors above the ground level. Acting mayor Regina Harchenko said the strike hit “our very heart” and that the youngest victims included small children.

More than 80 rescuers worked at the site, periodically stopping to listen for survivors under the debris. One six-year-old girl was among those recovered. Her grandfather stood by the body after it was pulled from the wreckage and said her birthday would have been at the end of the month. At least 26 residential buildings were damaged across two districts. The regional military administration declared Sunday a day of mourning.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack was Russia expressing “thanks” for the diesel deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump the previous day. He wrote that any easing of pressure is read in Moscow as permission to continue the war. The strikes formed part of a wider overnight barrage that hit 13 regions and damaged residential buildings, infrastructure and railways. Separate Russian attacks in Kherson oblast killed two more people.

Zaporizhzhia, with a pre-war population above 700,000, lies less than 30 kilometres from the front line and has been hit repeatedly. Glide bombs allow Russian aircraft to release munitions from a distance while staying outside much of Ukraine’s air-defence range. The city’s industrial character and its position on the Dnipro make it a regular target. No independent confirmation of the exact munitions or flight paths is available beyond Ukrainian official accounts and open-source imagery of the damaged buildings.

The timing, one day after the temporary suspension of U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel exports, has sharpened the political reaction in Kyiv. Ukrainian officials argue that additional revenue for Moscow from energy sales will finance further strikes. Russian forces also faced Ukrainian drone attacks on the Rostov region overnight, where fires were visible near an oil-processing facility. The front line itself remains largely static, but the long-range air campaign continues to produce civilian casualties in cities behind it.

Rescue operations in Zaporizhzhia were expected to continue for days. The final death toll may rise as more rubble is cleared. For residents of the affected blocks the immediate loss is homes, neighbours and, in several cases, children. The wider consequence is another data point in the argument over whether temporary energy concessions reduce or prolong the fighting.