That was announced by the prosecutor's office, as reported by the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform. According to the report, the glide-bomb attacks took place between 4:50 and 5:59 a.m. and targeted the city's civilian infrastructure. Apartment blocks, an educational institution and vehicles were damaged.
The number of injured is currently still being more precisely determined, it was said. The law enforcement authorities have opened a preliminary investigation into a war crime with fatal consequences under Article 438, Paragraph 2 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code.
How the city keeps coming into the crosshairs
Zaporizhzhia, a major city in southern Ukraine, has been a regular target of air strikes since the start of Russia’s war of aggression in February 2022. Only on 26 September, after attacks on the city and other places, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported two dead in Zaporizhzhia, as the “Welt” reported. At that time there had been 14 injured nationwide. The regional military administrator Ivan Fedorov had already reported at least two dead and eleven injured on 3 August after explosions of two glide bombs in Zaporizhzhia; by the evening the number of injured had risen to 31, as emerges from a ticker by “fr.de”.
The attacks repeatedly catch people in the region off guard. Apartment blocks, educational institutions and vehicles are damaged – places where everyday life takes place. The exact circumstances of the latest attack and the final number of injured had not yet been conclusively clarified on Friday morning.
What the attack means for the people
For the residents of Zaporizhzhia, the renewed shelling means uncertainty in everyday life: schools and educational institutions are damaged, routes to work and to supplies are endangered. The Ukrainian government has been demanding more air defence systems from Western partners for months in order to intercept such attacks. Whether and when further aid will arrive is open.
The investigation into Friday’s incident is ongoing. The prosecutor’s office classified the attack as a war crime with fatal consequences. Further details about the victims and the exact damage were initially not known.
