At least 15 people, including three children, were killed on Saturday, October 10, 2026, when five Russian glide bombs struck residential buildings in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, according to Ukrainian officials and emergency services cited by the BBC and Reuters.
The bombs hit homes in the early hours of the morning. Acting mayor Regina Kharchenko told Ukrainian television that the ground floor of one apartment block took a direct hit and the storeys above collapsed, and more than 80 rescue workers were at the scene. Officials said at least 16 other people were wounded, and more residents were believed trapped beneath the rubble, with rescuers pausing at intervals to listen for signs of life.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strikes came within hours of an announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump of an agreement easing sanctions to allow Russian diesel into the United States, and accused Moscow of interpreting any easing of pressure as permission to keep fighting. Zelensky also said 13 other Ukrainian regions came under attack overnight, and promised that Ukraine would respond to the strikes.
The Zaporizhzhia attack was the third mass-casualty strike on Ukraine in a single week, according to reports. Nearly 80 civilians were killed in Russian strikes on Wednesday and Thursday, including at least 30 killed by a bomb on two minibuses in the eastern city of Kramatorsk and 22 killed when a missile hit an apartment block in the town of Pryluky, east of Kyiv. The United Nations has reported that civilian casualties in Ukraine jumped by 55 percent in the first eight months of this year.
Zaporizhzhia is a major regional centre of more than 700,000 people, situated less than 10 miles from the front line, and is frequently hit by Russian drones and missiles. The Russian government said on Saturday that it had partially lifted its ban on diesel exports with immediate effect.
