Extract from ABC News
Rescuers evacuate a wounded resident from an apartment building damaged in a Russian air strike. (Reuters: Stringer)
In short:
At least 12 people have died after Russian aerial bombs hit residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says.
The strikes came a day after US President Donald Trump announced a deal to buy Russian diesel, in stark contrast to sanctions he signed last month.
What's next?
Mr Zelenskyy said Mr Trump's deal with Russia would allow the war to be prolonged.
Russian strikes have killed at least 12 people in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says.
The deadly strikes came a day after US President Donald Trump announced a deal to buy Russian diesel, which Kyiv warned would help bankroll Moscow's war in Ukraine.
Three children were among those killed when Russian aerial bombs hit residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, Mr Zelenskyy said on Saturday.
At least 14 people were wounded in the attack in the early hours of Saturday.
"Today, Russia expressed its thanks for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia," Mr Zelenskyy wrote on X.
The Russian air strike happened in the early hours of the morning on Saturday. (Reuters: Stringer)
He said the attacks show Moscow understands "any easing of pressure to mean they can keep fighting, to mean they can keep dropping bombs on cities," adding that "different signals are needed".
Four civilians were killed and five others were wounded as a result of Ukrainian attacks on the Russian-controlled Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours, the region's Russian-installed governor Leonid Pasechnik said on Saturday.
There was no immediate comment from Kyiv about those attacks.
Trump's Russian diesel deal
The latest attacks came a day after United States President Donald Trump said he had struck a deal to obtain diesel from Russia.
The deal is a stunning reversal of years of US pressure on Moscow over its war with Ukraine, and an attempt to address high fuel prices ahead of the US midterm elections.
At least seven people were killed in the strikes in Zaporizhzhia. (AP Photo: Kateryna Klochko)
Mr Trump said on social media on Friday that he struck the deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call in which he had been expected to discuss a suspected case of plague in Russia.
Instead, Mr Trump announced that Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons "immediately thereafter."
Russia will deliver an additional 3 million tons "within a short period of time" after that, he wrote.
Mr Trump's shocking announcement was in stark contrast to a sweeping Russia sanctions law he signed last month that aimed at clamping down on the oil and gas revenues that fuel Russia's war against Ukraine.
Following Mr Trump's announcement, Germany said on Saturday it would maintain sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine.
The Kremlin said Mr Trump conveyed his ideas about how to de-escalate the war in Ukraine to Mr Putin during their phone call on Friday.
Mr Putin received the proposals "with understanding", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Saturday according to the state TASS and RIA Novosti news agencies.
He didn't elaborate on what the proposals were or the Russian president's response.
Mr Trump has long sought to broker an end to the more than four-and-a-half year conflict, but talks between Russia and Ukraine remain largely deadlocked.
Trump deal a 'weak decision', Zelenskyy says
In a lengthy post online reacting to the deal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia would repay it "with further terror and perfidy."
He cast it as an investment in the war, allowing it to be prolonged.
"It plays into Russia's hands — allowing it to kill more, wage war for longer, have even less respect for America, and inflict even greater losses and damage on the world," he said.
According to a statement released by the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, Mr Zelenskyy called it "a weak decision, unfortunately, a weak decision by strong partners".
Mr Trump announced the deal as his envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were meeting with Ukrainian officials in Miami to discuss a proposal to end the war.
"I believe our team is simply being used as a smoke screen, and that is certainly not fair. It is certainly not how partners should treat each other,"Mr Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine is struggling to counter escalating Russian bombardments that have killed more than 55 people over the past four days, including in a bus stop attack that killed 33 people on Thursday.
AP/Reuters/AFP
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