Zaporizhzhia shelled after Russia's annexation law

What did Russia's claim to four Ukrainian regions mean on the ground by 6 October 2022? In Zaporizhzhia, it meant shelling. Russian forces hit residential buildings in the city, killing at least three people, injuring twelve others and causing widespread fires.

The attack came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law formally annexing the Donetsk People's Republic, the Luhansk People's Republic, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia into Russia. On 4 October 2022, the Federation Council of Russia had unanimously approved the annexation, leaving only the president's signature. Zaporizhzhia was therefore among the territories Moscow had just declared its own, and its residential districts were struck within a day of that declaration.

Ground gains in the south

The legal step contrasted with developments in the south. On 5 October 2022, Ukrainian troops recaptured the strategic village of Dudchany on the west bank of the Dnieper after Russian forces withdrew. The day before, Ukraine's 35th Marine Brigade had retaken Davydiv Brid in Beryslav Raion, Kherson Oblast, as the ground offensive continued. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said around 3,500 citizens had been freed from Russian occupation in recent days.

What the sequence showed

Taken together, the dates give a clear sequence. Russia approved and signed annexation documents on 4 and 5 October 2022, while Ukrainian forces were recapturing villages in one of the claimed regions, Kherson. On 6 October 2022, civilians in Zaporizhzhia, another of the four, were under fire.

The reported casualties in the city, and the fires that spread through residential areas, placed the human cost of the dispute over these regions in plain view. Paper annexation had not changed who controlled the front line in Kherson Oblast, where Ukrainian advances continued.