Last updated 4 hours ago
photo released, Getty Images
Ukrainian firefighters put out a fire after a raid in Zaporizhia
The Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia was the subject of a missile attack, which resulted in the death of at least one person and several injured.
The district governor said one woman was killed and at least seven people were injured, including a three-year-old boy.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged that Russia be punished for its missile attacks.
Kuleba noted that seven Russian missiles hit civilians who “slept peacefully in their homes” during the night, adding that more missiles landed during the day.
“The Russians continue to deliberately target civilians to instill fear. Russian terrorism must be stopped, by force of arms, sanctions and complete isolation,” he said on Twitter.
Subsequently, several explosions were heard in the area.
Close to the front line, Zaporizhia is the capital of the homonymous region illegally declared by Russia.
Other non-military sites across Ukraine were bombed, including power plants, transmission lines and apartment buildings.
Ukrainian officials say Russia is reacting to recent setbacks on the battlefield.
The regional governor of the city of Zaporizhia, Oleksandr Staruch, announced that two people were killed in missile attacks early this morning.
“One woman died and another died in an ambulance,” he said on Telegram’s messaging app.
But he later changed it and said one person was killed, indicating that the second person’s life had been saved.
“There are at least five people under the rubble of the buildings and many have been rescued, including a three-year-old girl who is currently being treated. Rescue operations are currently underway on the spot,” he added.
Staruch previously wrote that the missiles hit apartment buildings before dawn, causing fires and “significant destruction”.
Staruch urged people to show “extreme caution”, saying there was “a high possibility of repeated missile attacks”.
what happened today
- Zaporozhye city governor Oleksandr Starukh said seven missiles hit apartment buildings before dawn.
- Staruch initially stated that two people were killed in the first attack, but later changed it and said that one person had been killed, indicating that the second person’s life had been saved.
- Rescuers are working to drag people believed to be trapped under the rubble.
- A second attack occurred shortly after: BBC’s Paul Adams said at least three other explosions occurred in the city center.
- An eyewitness to the first attack told the BBC that he had elderly relatives in one of the buildings that had been bombed and said “there was very little hope they were alive”.
The Ukrainian city of Zaporozhye under Russian missile attack
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to achieve “stability” in four Ukrainian regions, which he declared illegally annexed.
Moscow does not control all territory in these four regions and has lost territory in some areas, vowing to take back any lost land.
Ukrainian forces are advancing in the south and east.
Serhiy Hayday, the regional governor of Luhansk, told the BBC on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces have recaptured six villages in the area.
President Zelensky later said his forces had recaptured three more villages in the Kherson region.
The Ukrainian counterattack also managed to recapture the strategic city of Lyman.
