The attack came hours after Ukraine’s military attacked an oil depot deep inside Russia.
Russia bombed the city of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine on Wednesday, officials said, killing at least 13 people in a brazen daytime attack.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said “dozens” of people had been wounded in the attack and warned that the toll could rise.
“There is nothing more cruel than launching aerial bombs on a city, knowing that ordinary civilians will suffer,” he wrote in a post on X that included video purporting to show dead and wounded people lying on city streets as rescuers rushed to respond.
The regional governor of Zaporizhzhia, Ivan Fedorov, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app that at least 37 people were wounded in the attack, which “cynically struck the city in the middle of the day.” He shared graphic images that he said were from the scene, where numerous medical teams and emergency workers were responding.
The city of Zaporizhzhia was once considered relatively safe, but in recent months has increasingly come under attack. It is strategically important to Ukraine’s defense of the south, and also holds symbolic significance as the capital of the Zaporizhzhia region, which Russia has sought to annex. The region is home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which Russian forces seized in 2022 and still hold.
The death toll from Wednesday’s attack was the largest from a single strike in recent weeks, and comes as both Russia and Ukraine are trying to project strength before President-elect Donald J. Trump’s inauguration.