Once-safe city lives in fear as Russia's glide bombs hit

Zaporizhzhia has large steel industry that supports weapons production in Ukraine

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KYIV – There was no warning – no whistling sound of a missile or buzz of a drone that usually heralds a Russian attack. There was just an explosion, a resident said, and then a pile of smouldering rubble where a small shopping centre once stood.

Local officials say the device used in that attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia in September was a Russian glide bomb – the first indication, they say, that Russia would begin targeting their city with the powerful weapon.

Since then, local officials say, glide bombs have frequently struck the city, wounding more than 100 people and killing at least two. They are considered especially dangerous because they are hard to intercept.

“They suddenly go boom,” said Mr Stanislav, a retiree, describing the attacks. “We are worried.”

Glide bombs have been deployed by Russian forces to pound Ukrainian front-line positions throughout the war, and have been used against cities close to the Russian border, like Kharkiv, in recent months.

But major cities farther from the border like Zaporizhzhia, which were once seen as out of reach of the weapons, are increasingly being struck, local officials, residents and military experts say.