The attack was directed at a building that is part of the city's infrastructure, announces the governor of the larger Zaporizhzhya region, Ivan Fedorov, via social media. By infrastructure, one usually means the power grid or connecting facilities.
"A fire broke out at the impact site", writes Fedorov, adding that nine people were injured in addition to the fatalities.
Russia has a clear initiative in the war in eastern Ukraine. The invasion forces have, in recent weeks, directed increasingly more long-range attacks against Zaporizhzhya. The city is located along the Dnieper River, which divides southern Ukraine, and less than four miles from the nearest part of the front line.
Analysts following the war have seen it as likely that Russia wants to advance towards Zaporizhzhya in a forthcoming winter offensive.
The city is one of Ukraine's largest and was estimated to have around 700,000 inhabitants before the larger outbreak of war. It is located in the region of the same name, which Russia unilaterally declared it had annexed in the autumn of 2022, despite not controlling the region in its entirety or its largest city.
