death toll from strike on Zaporizhzhia rises to 7, rescue operations continue

A Russian strike carried out on Tuesday on Zaporizhia, in southern Ukraine, left seven dead and 22 injured, according to a new report provided Wednesday by the authorities, while rescuers are still trying to find survivors under the rubble.

The strike, which destroyed a private clinic and an office building, is the latest in a series of attacks that have intensified in southern Ukraine, reinforcing fears of a new Russian offensive in the region.

“The attack cost the lives of 7 people and injured 22 others. There are still people under the rubble.

According to preliminary data, 20 residential buildings and three non-residential buildings were damaged,” regional governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram.

According to him, more than a hundred rescuers are on site to clear the rubble. He accompanied his message with a photograph showing mechanical excavators and firefighters working near ruined buildings.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry had explained earlier that “up to five people could be trapped under the rubble”.

A five-year-old girl is among the injured, according to the ministry.

Zaporizhia is one of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow has claimed to annex in 2022, without fully controlling it.

Ukrainian experts and soldiers believe that the Russian army could prepare a new ground offensive on the Southern front, where positions have remained generally unchanged for months.

Such an attack would constitute a challenge for the Ukrainian army, already struggling on the Eastern Front and which is engaged in the Russian border region of Kursk, of which it occupies a small part.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who condemned “a brutal attack” on Tuesday, urged the West to provide more air defense systems to Ukraine, including American Patriot batteries of which he said he needed “10 to 12” units.

A Russian attack had already left 10 dead in Zaporizhia last Friday.