By Sergiy Chalyi and Olena Harmash
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (Reuters) -Russia struck the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with two guided aerial bombs on Tuesday, killing a woman and injuring 26 other people including four children, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said.
Russian forces also launched drone attacks on the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine and the city of Kharkiv in the northeast, regional officials said.
The attacks came as both Russia and Ukraine are under pressure from the United States to demonstrate progress towards ending the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“All of this is deliberate Russian terror that can be stopped with a single order, an order in Russia and for the Russian army,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on social media platform X, adding that there had also been attacks on Sumy, Donetsk and Odesa.
Russia did not immediately comment on the reports.
Zaporizhzhia, an important logistical and industrial hub in southeastern Ukraine that is about 50 km (30 miles) from the front line, has been a frequent target of intensified Russian-guided bomb strikes.
Highly destructive guided bombs are difficult for Ukrainian air defences to intercept.
Local officials posted images of a multi-storey residential building with charred upper floors and rescuers helping the wounded.
Fedorov said doctors were treating the children, all boys aged 3-16, as well as others injured in the attack, during which one of the guided bombs struck a densely populated area of the city at about 11:40 a.m. (08:40 GMT).
“I can’t think straight. There was a bang, and the balcony was completely blown away,” Alla, 73, a local resident, told Reuters. She was visibly shaking as she sat on a bench nearby.
Russia partially occupies the Zaporizhzhia region, home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
In Kherson, six people were injured and a hospital was damaged, said regional prosecutors.
In Kharkiv, at least 10 people were hurt and several fires broke out as Russia targeted four of the city’s districts, mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
(Additional reporting by Yuliia Dysa and Vitalyi Hnidyi, Editing by Timothy Heritage, Aidan Lewis)
