ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (Reuters) – A Russian guided bomb attack on Wednesday killed at least 13 people and injured 29 others in Ukraine’s southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, authorities said, adding that the number of victims could rise further.
The bodies of the dead and injured were strewn across a road and adjacent pavements next to damaged public transport.
High-rise apartment blocks, an industrial facility and other infrastructure were damaged in the attack, Ukraine’s prosecutor general office said on Telegram. The debris hit a tram and a bus with passengers inside, it added.
Emergency workers were trying to resuscitate a man, while raging flames, smoke and burnt cars could be seen in the background.
Russian troops had used two guided bombs to hit a residential area, the regional governor Ivan Fedorov told reporters.
At least four of the injured were rushed to hospital in a serious condition, Fedorov said, adding that Thursday would be an official day of mourning.
“There is nothing more cruel than launching aerial bombs on a city, knowing that ordinary civilians will suffer,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on X, urging Ukraine’s Western allies to step up pressure on Russia.
Regional authorities reported further explosions after the first strike hit.
Russia regularly carries out air strikes on the Zaporizhzhia region, which its forces partially occupy, and its capital. Moscow claims to have annexed the Ukrainian region along with four others including Crimea.
(Reporting by Serhiy Chalyi in Zaporizhzhia and Yuliia Dysa in Gdansk; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Gareth Jones)
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