Russian drone and missile attacks unnerve Zaporizhzhia after deadly strike kills at least 50

The attack on Komyshuvakha saw nine Russian glide bombs hit the town, where many had gathered at a local school to receive humanitarian aid. Several people remain missing, feared dead under the rubble. The strike came amid escalating Russian assaults on villages south of Zaporizhzhia, including Preobrazhenka, where Volodymyr fled last week after a drone attack left him with burns to his arms and hands. "We were in the cellar when they started bombing us with drones," he told Al Jazeera. "As you can see, I was completely burned."

Zaporizhzhia has served as a refuge for thousands of internally displaced people since Russia's invasion began, many fleeing cities such as Mariupol and Melitopol. Now, as the security situation deteriorates, some face the prospect of leaving again.

Denys Knysh, a regional military administration official, said authorities are ready to evacuate the city if needed. "It's very difficult to calculate [how many people are left in the city] because every day people leave Zaporizhzhia," he told Al Jazeera. "The demographic in Google doesn't correspond to the reality."

In the Cosmos neighbourhood, the city administration is installing anti-drone netting over streets and civilian infrastructure. Petrol stations and businesses along the Pryberezhna Highway are covered in the protective netting. Drone jammers are on the roofs of city buses, and children carry drone detectors. But boarded-up windows and bombed-out buildings across the city show how difficult it is to mitigate the threat once the drones arrive.

Earlier that day, Russian Banderol missiles, a type of low-cost jet-powered cruise missile, struck a shopping mall and the main bridge into the city. An FPV drone also hit a city bus.

Alina, who works in a flower shop beneath the protective netting, said, "Of course I may have to leave, but I don't want to." She hears the buzz of Russian drones almost every day. Nearby, Nataliia, an employee at a petrol station, said: "It's scary and dangerous, everything is flying around. Just today a drone flew over us."

Many of those in the shelter are elderly or have limited mobility. Some lack the documents they need to relocate, making evacuation more difficult. Others prefer to stay in Zaporizhzhia, close to their former homes, holding on to hope that the war will end and they can return. Knysh said authorities are preparing to relocate the shelter where Volodymyr is staying to another neighbourhood "if the situation gets worse".