By Niamh Gillen on 9 Jan 2025
In the afternoon of Wednesday 8 January 2025, several Russian air strikes struck the centre of Ukrainian city Zaporizhzhia, killing at least 13 civilians and injuring around 113 more, including a 13-year old boy. Among the wounded, 59 people remain hospitalised, 10 of whom are reported to be in a severe condition.
The attack targeted an industrial facility, with subsequent attacks striking other parts of the city, which is home to around 700,000 people. The attacks caused extensive damage to residential buildings, administrative buildings, and cars. One explosion occurred among a crowd of people who were located between the facility’s administrative building and the road. Euromaidan reported that most victims were on the street or in public transportation at the time of the attacks, with a mini-bus and tram carrying passengers being impacted.
Swathes of Zaporizhzhia Oblast have been under Russian control since the early stages of the invasion in February 2022, including the capture of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in March 2022. The city of Zaporizhzhia itself remains under control of the Ukrainian government, but is located near the frontline of fighting between the two countries, and thus remains vulnerable to frequent attacks.
Zaporizhzhia Oblast is of strategic importance to Russia as it is located approximately 125 miles from Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, AOAV has reported 503 incidents of explosive violence in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, which has resulted in 2,231 civilian casualties, of which 517 people were killed and 1,714 injured. Zaporizhzhia is the fifth most impacted oblast in Ukraine in terms of civilian casualties.
Between January and December 2024, AOAV recorded an increase of 1,060% in civilian casualties caused by explosive violence in Zaporizhzhia Oblast (from 10 to 116 civilian casualties).
So far, within the first nine days of 2025, AOAV has recorded 52 incidents of explosive violence in Ukraine, leading to 285 civilian casualties, including at least 32 people killed and 253 injured. Unfortunately, this figure is expected to continue to rise in 2025, as the conflict enters its fourth year in February.
To see a comprehensive overview of the explosive violence data AOAV has recorded in Ukraine, please visit here.
AOAV’s casualty figures represent the lowest of estimations in terms of the number of people killed and injured by explosive weapon use. In an effort to quantify the explicit harm caused by specific explosive weapons, AOAV solely records incident-specific casualty figures, as reported in English-language media.