3 people killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia despite limited truce

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia launched a drone attack overnight on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing three people and wounding 14, despite agreeing to a limited ceasefire, Ukrainian officials said Saturday.

Zaporizhzhia was hit by 12 drones, police said. Regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov said that residential buildings, cars and communal buildings were set on fire in the Friday night attack. Photos showed emergency services personnel scouring the rubble for survivors.

Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after President Trump spoke with the countries’ leaders, though it remains to be seen what potential targets would be off-limits to attack.

The three parties appeared to hold starkly different views about what the deal covered. While the White House said “energy and infrastructure” would be part of the agreement, the Kremlin declared that the agreement referred more narrowly to “energy infrastructure.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would also like railways and ports to be protected.

The dead in Zaporizhzhia were three members of one family. The bodies of the daughter and father were pulled from the ruins of their home while doctors unsuccessfully fought for the mother’s life for more than 10 hours, Fedorov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia fired a total of 179 drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks Friday night into Saturday. It said 100 were intercepted and 63 were lost, probably having been electronically jammed.

Officials in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions reported fires from the falling debris of intercepted drones.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense, meanwhile, said its air defense systems shot down 47 Ukrainian drones.

Local authorities said two people were injured and six apartments were damaged when a Ukrainian drone hit a high-rise apartment block in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Friday night.

Zelensky told reporters after Wednesday’s call with Trump that Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators would discuss technical details related to the partial ceasefire during a meeting in Saudi Arabia on Monday. Russian negotiators are also set to hold separate talks with U.S. officials there.

Zelensky emphasized that Ukraine is open to a full, 30-day ceasefire that Trump has proposed, saying: “We will not be against any format, any steps toward unconditional ceasefire.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a 30-day ceasefire conditional on a halt of arms supplies to Kyiv and a suspension of Ukraine’s military mobilization — demands rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies.

Kremlin spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Saturday that Ukraine was continuing with “treacherous attacks” on energy infrastructure facilities, and that Russia reserved the right to a “symmetrical” response.

Her comments came after Russia accused Ukrainian forces Friday of blowing up a gas metering station near the town of Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have been pulling back after an incursion last year.

Ukraine’s military General Staff rejected Moscow’s accusations and blamed the Russian military for shelling the station as part of Russia’s “discrediting campaign.”

Kullab writes for the Associated Press.