Three children among injured in Zaporizhzhia attack, says regional governor
Regional governor Ivan Fedorov said that three children were among the 24 injured in the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia after a Russian attack (see 8.59am BST). He confirmed that one person had been killed.
The Ukrainian air force recorded five missile and 24 drone hits at seven locations with debris falling on 21 sites, according to the statement on the Telegram messaging app, reports Reuters.
The attack on Zaporizhzhia cut power to 25,000 residents, Fedorov said. The local energy facility said the attack damaged its equipment and that repairs were under way.
As of early Saturday, Ukrainian state-owned railway Ukrzaliznytsia said it had repaired the damage to its infrastructure in the Kyiv region.
Key events
Ukraine’s military says it struck two Russian oil refineries overnight
Ukrainian military said on Saturday that it had struck Russian oil refineries in Krasnodar and Syzran overnight.
Kyiv’s military recorded multiple explosions and a fire at the Krasnodar oil refinery in Russia’s south, which produces 3m tonnes of light petroleum products annually, reports Reuters.
Russian authorities in Krasnodar said falling drone debris damaged one of the refinery’s units and a fire had broken out over an area measuring 300 square metres (3,230 square feet). That fire was later extinguished, authorities said.
There were no casualties, and employees were evacuated, authorities wrote on Telegram.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had downed 11 Ukrainian drones over the Krasnodar region overnight.
There was also a fire in the Syzran oil refinery area in Samara region, which had a processing capacity of 8.5m tonnes per year before August, the Ukrainian military said. Samara’s regional governor confirmed an attempt overnight to attack an industrial enterprise, but gave no further details.
Russia ‘shows utter disregard’ says Zelenskyy as one killed and dozens injured in overnight attack on Zaporizhzhia
One person has died and dozens have been injured, including children, in Zaporizhzhia after a reported Russian strike on a five-story residential building, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday morning.
“All emergency services are engaged at the site,” said Zelenskyy. He added that Volyn, Dnipro, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Rivne, Sumy, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi and Chernihiv regions were all affected by the attack. “Numerous fires broke out, and civilian infrastructure – homes and businesses – suffered the most damage,” he said. According to Zelenskyy, Russia launched “nearly 540 drones, 8 ballistic missiles, and 37 other types of missiles against civilian life”.
In a social media post on X, Zelenskyy wrote:
We saw the world’s response to the previous strike. But now, as Russia once again shows its utter disregard for words, we count on real action.
It is absolutely clear that Moscow used the time meant for preparing a leaders-level meeting to organise new massive attacks.
The only way to reopen a window of opportunity for diplomacy is through tough measures against all those bankrolling the Russian army and effective sanctions against Moscow itself – banking and energy sanctions.
This war won’t stop with political statements alone; real steps are needed. We expect action from the US, Europe, and the entire world.
In other developments:
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Vladimir Putin will travel to China this weekend for what the Kremlin has called a “truly unprecedented” visit to his most important ally, which comes at a crunch moment in talks over Ukraine.
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Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region came under a “massive attack” early on Saturday, the region’s governor said, reporting strikes in Dnipro and Pavlograd. “The region is under a massive attack. Explosions are being heard,” Sergiy Lysak wrote on Telegram, warning residents to take cover. He said overnight Russian strikes killed two people in Dnipropetrovsk, which had been largely spared from intense fighting since Russia’s 2022 invasion. Kyiv acknowledged on Tuesday that Russian troops had entered the region.
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The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has warned that Donald Trump risked being “played” by Putin if a Russia-Ukraine peace summit did not go ahead. Macron expressed hope that the two-way meeting would take place but warned if Russia did not meet a Monday deadline to agree to the talks, “it will show again President Putin has played President Trump”.
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Zelenskyy said he expected to continue talks with European leaders next week on “Nato-like” commitments to protect Ukraine, adding that Trump should also be involved. “We need the architecture to be clear to everyone,” he said, adding that he wanted to tell Trump “how we see it”.
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EU defence ministers meeting in Copenhagen on Friday expressed “broad support” for expanding the bloc’s military training mission to operate inside Ukraine, the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said. “The EU has already trained over 80,000 Ukrainian soldiers,” Kallas wrote on X. “We must be ready to do more.”
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