Andrea Innocenti On Saturday, the southern city of Zaporizhzhia was hit by a massive Russian air strike. Twenty-one glide bombs struck the town, killing twenty people , three of them children, and wounding eighteen others . Among the dead was a six-year-old girl, whose body was found wrapped in a white sack, while her emotional grandfather, Anatoliy Chumniy, cried on his bed of rubble.
The Zaporizhzhia attack and testimonies from the affected area
Rescue workers struggled to extricate victims from the rubble of a ruined apartment building. One survivor, whose limb was trapped, screamed in pain as he was pulled out. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the action a "thank you" response from Moscow for the recent lifting of US sanctions on diesel , calling it one of his harshest criticisms of the White House.
A week of attacks on multiple fronts
The shelling of Zaporizhia was just the latest in a series of attacks that have hit Ukraine in recent days. On Wednesday and Thursday, around 80 civilians were killed: at least 30 in the eastern city of Kramatorsk and 22 in Pryluky, about 130 km east of Kyiv, where a five-story building was reduced to rubble, with five children among the dead.
Putin's birthday "gift"
Zelensky denounced the Pryluky attack as "a birthday present for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who turns 74." He emphasized that the overabundance of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and Shahed drones demonstrates Moscow's willingness to "painfully and demonstratively" target Ukraine's energy infrastructure. The president also recalled that the use of ballistic missiles remains the greatest challenge to Ukraine's air defense, calling for new Patriot systems.
The geopolitical context: diesel sanctions and Washington's response
On the day of the attack, US President Donald Trump announced the lifting of sanctions on Russian diesel, a measure aimed at curbing rising domestic fuel prices in the US. The announcement came while Ukrainian and European delegations were engaged in talks in Miami with American negotiators to develop a joint end-of-war plan.
Kyiv accused Washington of "taking by surprise" the delegation led by presidential adviser Dmytro Lytvyn, arguing that the lifting of sanctions sends a signal to Moscow that international pressure is easing. Zelensky stated that Russia interprets any mitigation as