Deadly aerial bombing damages apartment blocks in Sloviansk

A Russian aerial bomb strike on Sloviansk in Ukraine's Donetsk region killed one person and injured 10 early on Saturday, according to the city's military administration as reported by Kyiv Post. Two residential blocks suffered partial structural collapse, while eight apartment buildings sustained damage.

Vadym Lyakh, head of the Sloviansk City Military Administration, said the attack struck a residential neighbourhood at about 03:40 local time. He identified FAB-250 aerial bombs as the weapons involved. Emergency services searched collapsed sections of the damaged apartment blocks for people who might still be trapped. The strike targeted a residential area rather than a military installation, according to the city administration's description. Responders approached buildings with damaged walls and interior spaces where people may have been buried by falling debris.

Four of the injured people were taken to hospital, according to the preliminary figures cited by Kyiv Post. Rescue teams worked around the affected buildings, where debris and damaged structural elements complicated access. Authorities had not given a final assessment of the destruction. The emergency response focused on rescuing occupants and identifying further casualties. The reports did not specify how many apartments were rendered uninhabitable or how many residents would need alternative accommodation.

The air attack occurred during a larger overnight series of strikes across Ukraine, according to Kyiv Post. That reporting described separate incidents in Vinnytsia, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia, but their casualties were not included in Sloviansk's toll. Officials said other cities suffered damage to homes and infrastructure.

Censor.net and Spain's EFE also reported the fatal attack on Sloviansk. The precise location within the residential neighbourhood was not named in the available accounts. The city authorities' figures were preliminary while search-and-rescue teams continued working. The first casualty reports were issued while rescue work was continuing. Those numbers should therefore be read as the figures available from officials at the time, not a final account of all those affected.