ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine, Dec 18, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Russian air strikes on and around the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday wounded at least 32 people, according to the local authorities.

The head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov, wrote on Telegram that all of those wounded came from the city and its surroundings.

Rescue services earlier in the day said that five children were among the casualties in a provisional toll of 30, after strikes on a block of flats, a house and an educational establishment.

AFP journalists at the scene saw firefighters battling a blaze in a multiple-storey housing block, where black smoke was billowing into the sky.

Fedorov said two people were also wounded in a Russian drone strike on a civilian car in Kushuhum, south of Zaporizhzhia.

The industrial city of Zaporizhzhia had a pre-war population of around 710,000 people and lies 27 kilometres (17 miles) from the front line. It has been targeted frequently by Russian forces since they invaded in February 2022.

The Kremlin claimed in late 2022 that it had annexed the wider region, along with three other eastern and southern regions of Ukraine.

The attacks came with the United States pushing Ukraine to accept peace terms to halt the fighting that critics have said are favourable to the Kremlin.