Russian attack wounds more than two dozen in Ukraine

A Russian aerial attack on Wednesday wounded at least 26 people, including in a residential building in the central Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, local authorities announced.

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Ukrainian rescuers work to extinguish a fire in a damaged residential building following an air attack in Zaporizhzhia on December 17, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Darya NAZAROVA / AFP

2025-12-17 19:07:33

A Russian aerial attack on Wednesday wounded at least 26 people, including in a residential building in the central Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, local authorities announced.

AFP journalists at the scene saw firefighters battling a blaze in a multiple-storey housing bloc, where black smoke was billowing into the sky.

The attack comes as the United States is pushing Ukraine to accept peace terms to halt the fighting that critics have said are favourable to the Kremlin. 

"The Russians launched guided aerial bombs, destroying residential buildings and damaging an infrastructure facility and an educational institution," Ivan Fedorov, the head of the Zaporizhzhia military administration announced.

He said 26 people were wounded in total, including at least one child and that medical workers were on the scene.

The industrial city of Zaporizhzhia had a pre-war population of around 710,000 people and lies 27 kilometres (17 miles) from the front line. It has been targeted frequently by Russian forces since they invaded in February 2022.

The Kremlin claimed in late 2022 that it had annexed the wider region, along with three other eastern and southern regions of Ukraine.

© Agence France-Presse