Zelensky shares photos of carnage as Kherson city centre bombed on Christmas Eve
Ukrainian president says world 'must see what absolute evil we are fighting against'
Updated 12pm
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday blasted Russian "terror" after shelling left at least five dead and 20 injured in Kherson city, which Kyiv's forces recaptured in November.
Zelensky shared photos of the carnage, including images of dead bodies lying on the street.
"This is not sensitive content - it's the real life of Ukraine," Zelensky wrote on Twitter.
"On the eve of Christmas, in the central part of the city. It's terror, it's killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure," Zelensky added.
The Ukrainian president said the world had to "see what absolute evil we are fighting against."
On the day marking ten months since the beginning of the war, a string of shelling rained down around a busy Saturday market in Kherson, where a fire erupted.
Photos of the attacks quickly spread across Twitter and Telegram, with many Kherson residents suggesting Russia had purposely waited for Christmas Eve, to maximise the casualties within the city's shopping district.
AFP journalists at the scene saw several bodies laying on the ground, including a man killed in his car near the market.
Another man, whose car had been blown up, had severe head injuries.
"We know of at least five dead and 20 injured," the Deputy Head of Presidency Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Telegram.
Among those injured in Saturday's attack was a seven-year-old girl, The Kyiv Independent reported.
Despite Russia's retreat from the southern port city in November, Kherson remains within reach of Moscow's weaponry and under constant threat.
On December 15, Russian shelling killed two people including a Red Cross worker in Kherson and completely cut power in the southern city.
In an address on Friday, Zelensky had warned citizens to be on their guard during the holiday season.
"Russian terrorists may become active again," he warned. "Therefore please heed the air-raid signals, help each other and always take care of each other.”