Russian guided bomb strike on Zaporizhzhia residential building kills at least four
Russian forces struck a five-storey residential building in Zaporizhzhia with guided aerial bombs on the morning of 10 October, killing at least four people and injuring several others. Rescuers pulled a woman from the rubble and continued search operations amid reports that one person may remain trapped.
Key points
- Russian forces struck Zaporizhzhia with guided aerial bombs (KABs) on the morning of 10 October
- A five-storey residential building was hit, with one entrance partially destroyed and structural collapse at the level of the second floor
- Initial reports stated four people were killed; a later update attributed to the head of the Zaporizhzhia OVA said five, including two children
- Three people sustained minor injuries and one was hospitalized; other reports gave higher figures of four or ten wounded
- Rescuers pulled a conscious woman from the rubble and continued search operations, with one person possibly still trapped
- Acting head of the Zaporizhzhia OVA Mykhailo Semikin reported the strike and its consequences via Telegram
- The attack followed Russian strikes on Zaporizhzhia on 9, 8 and 7 October that killed and injured civilians and damaged transport infrastructure
Why it matters
The strike killed at least four civilians and wounded several others in a direct hit on a residential building, with the fatality toll potentially higher as rescue operations continued. It is one in a pattern of repeated Russian attacks on Zaporizhzhia over consecutive days, and the use of guided aerial bombs against a civilian apartment block in the city underscores the continuing threat to the civilian population. Varying casualty figures across sources also illustrate how difficult it is to obtain verified information while rescue work is still underway.
What happened
On the morning of 10 October, Russian tactical aircraft launched guided aerial bombs toward Zaporizhzhia, according to the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which reported the launches around 5 a.m. One of the bombs struck a five-storey residential building, partially destroying one of its entrances and causing structural collapse at the level of the second floor. Other residential buildings in the city were also reported damaged, and fires broke out across the strike sites.
Initial reports stated that four people were killed. A later update attributed to the head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration (OVA) raised the figure to five, including two children. Reports on the number of wounded also varied: three with minor injuries and one hospitalized, four wounded, or ten wounded depending on the source and the time of reporting.
Rescuers pulled a conscious woman from the rubble of the five-storey building and handed her over to emergency medical services. Emergency services continued working at the site, and rescuers said one person was likely still trapped under the rubble as search operations went on. Acting head of the Zaporizhzhia OVA Mykhailo Semikin reported the strike and its consequences via Telegram, and co-chair of the Zaporizhzhia Defense Council Ivan Fedorov reported fires and destruction across the city.
Where reporting differs
Sources differ on the fatality toll: an initial report stated four killed, while a later report attributed to the head of the Zaporizhzhia OVA stated five killed, including two children. Reports on the number of wounded also vary, with figures of three lightly injured and one hospitalized, four wounded, or ten wounded depending on the source and the time of reporting. The acting head of the Zaporizhzhia OVA is also named inconsistently across sources as Mykhailo Somykin, Mykhailo Semikin, and Mykhailo Semykin.
Background
The 10 October strike came after several days of repeated Russian attacks on Zaporizhzhia. On the morning of 9 October, a Russian strike near a multi-storey building killed one person and injured nine, including a child, with later figures from that attack rising to 23 injured. On 8 October, a Russian FPV drone hit the Zaporizhzhia Oblast Council building, striking its coat of arms. On 7 October, Russian forces struck a transport infrastructure object, temporarily restricting traffic on the Vantovy Bridge, and on the night of 6 October a strike on a bridge over the Dnieper injured five people, including two Red Cross workers. In earlier weeks, Russian strikes on Zaporizhzhia Oblast had killed multiple civilians and damaged major civilian infrastructure, including a large shopping center.