Russian strike kills 9 in southern Ukraine

A Russian strike on Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region has killed at least nine people, the local governor said Friday.

Zaporizhzhia governor Ivan Fedorov said a Russian attack had set a car garage and service station on fire, posting images of a fire blazing with debris strewn across the street.

"Nine dead and six wounded," he said in a post on Telegram, updating an earlier toll of seven fatalities.

"Among the wounded are two children, aged four and 11," he added.

In a previous message he had called Russia a "terrorist state".

Some nearby communities had problems with electricity supplies after the strike, he said.

The attack comes after weeks of escalation in the near three-year war, with Moscow stepping up its attacks at the start of the freezing winter months.

An earlier strike on the central city of Kryvyi Rig killed two people and wounded 16, including a child, the state emergency services agency said.

"A three-storey building was destroyed, residential buildings and cars were damaged" in that attack, it said on Telegram.