Russia struck the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with five glide bombs on Saturday morning, killing at least 20 people, including four children, local officials said. At least 32 others were injured, with more still missing and believed to be trapped under rubble.
The bombs hit residential buildings in the southern city. Photos and videos from the scene showed an apartment block largely destroyed.
"The ground floor was hit, and the floors above just collapsed," acting Mayor Regina Harchenko told Ukrainian television from the scene.
Harchenko said more than 80 workers were involved in ongoing search and rescue operations expected to continue throughout the day. Rescuers were regularly stopping to listen for sounds from survivors who might be buried under the debris.
She said Russia had struck at "our very heart" and that "our littlest ones" were among those killed, adding that their deaths were "awful grief for their families. For the city."
Zaporizhzhia is a major regional centre with more than 700,000 residents. It is located less than 10 miles (16 kilometres) from the front line and is frequently targeted by Russian drones and missiles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks on Zaporizhzhia were Russia expressing "its thanks" for a deal announced by US President Donald Trump the previous night, which eased sanctions on Moscow to allow imports of Russian diesel.
Zelensky criticised the deal as a gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also noted that 13 other regions had come under attack overnight, arguing this demonstrated that Russia took "any easing of pressure to mean they can keep fighting."
He wrote on social media that Russian attacks on energy facilities in the capital, Kyiv, demonstrated Russia's "true intentions."
"Russia's choice is war. And they will be ready to end it only when they feel that their ability to drag the war out is diminishing. Unfortunately, the signals Russia received yesterday were entirely different - signals suggesting that it could simply keep attacking. And this needs to be corrected."
The Zaporizhzhia strike is the latest in a series of deadly attacks on Ukrainian civilians. On Thursday, at least 33 people were killed in a Russian glide bomb attack on two civilian buses in Kramatorsk, in the eastern Donetsk region. The day before, 22 people, including five children, died when a Russian missile struck an apartment block in the town of Pryluky, east of Kyiv.
The number of civilian casualties in Ukraine rose by 55 percent in the first eight months of this year, according to the United Nations.
Russia has also intensified attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure as winter approaches, a strategy it has pursued in previous years. Kyiv has repeatedly accused Moscow of targeting the civilian population, which Russia denies.
Ukraine, for its part, has increasingly struck infrastructure deep inside Russia that is critical to its economy, including oil refineries and terminals. Several strikes on data centres owned by Russian technology company Yandex have left the firm struggling to maintain services. Kyiv says its strikes are aimed at curtailing revenue streams for Russia's war effort.
