Russian double-tap strike targets rescue workers in Zaporizhzhia

A Russian missile attack on Zaporizhzhia on Thursday killed a child and injured several civilians, while a subsequent strike targeted emergency responders working at the scene, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (DSNS) reported.

Russia has repeatedly employed so-called “double-tap” strikes - launching follow-up attacks on the same site shortly after the initial hit - to target rescue workers, medics, and first responders arriving to help. The tactic, documented across multiple regions of Ukraine and previously in Russia’s campaign in Syria, is widely condemned as a deliberate effort to inflict additional casualties and sow fear among emergency crews. 

According to DSNS, one rescuer was wounded in the repeat shelling as teams were extinguishing fires and clearing rubble from the initial impact. The injured responder sustained a closed head injury, blast trauma, and bruises to the spine and knees. Rescue vehicles were also damaged in the attack.

Earlier, a combined Russian strike hit a private residential area of the city, destroying a home and setting it ablaze.

Emergency crews rescued a seven-year-old boy from the rubble, but he later died in hospital from his injuries. Five other people were wounded, and a gas pipeline at a nearby apartment block caught fire. All fires were later contained, the DSNS said.

The south-eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia was among the cities affected by a nationwide wave of Russian attacks on Thursday night targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Over 450 drones and more than 30 missiles were launched across the country, leaving at least 20 people injured and causing power outages in multiple regions.

“This was a calculated, cynical attack on everything that sustains normal life,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, extending condolences to the family of the killed child.