Six people were killed and nine others injured in a Russian strike Tuesday morning on the town of Zaporizhia in southern Ukraine, the regional governor said.
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The deadly attack hit an “infrastructure site,” Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram, adding that “a fire broke out” at the scene.
Shortly before the strike, the air alert due to the risk of ballistic missile attack had been triggered in this region where the largest nuclear power plant in Europe is located, occupied by Russia since the start of its invasion of Ukraine early 2022.
The head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriï Iermak reacted on Telegram by calling on the West to do more to help Ukraine.
“Zaporizhia. A new Russian attack, there are dead and wounded. The violence must be stopped with firm action. Allies must act more firmly,” he insisted.
Kyiv accuses the West of timidity in the face of Russia, at a time when the latter is accelerating its conquests in eastern Ukraine and is accused of deploying North Korean troops to fight Ukraine.
Divided by the Dnieper River, the city of Zaporizhia, which had more than 700,000 inhabitants before this war, is approximately 35 kilometers as the crow flies from Russian positions.
Several Ukrainian media and military bloggers have raised the risk of a possible Russian offensive in the Zaporizhia region in recent days.
It would thus add to Moscow’s main assault on the eastern front, where the Ukrainian army has been forced to retreat for months.
Russian bombings on Zaporizhia have also intensified in recent weeks.
The Kremlin, whose forces control part of the Zaporizhia region, claimed the annexation of the entire territory at the end of 2022.
