A Russian strike on Tuesday on Zaporizhia, a large city in southern Ukraine, left nine dead and around twenty injured, according to a new report given Wednesday by the regional governor, while other people could still be under attack. rubble.
The bombing, which destroyed a clinic and an office building in the city center, is the latest in a series of more intense attacks in southern Ukraine, heightening fears of a new Russian offensive in the region.
“Despite the efforts of doctors, another injured person died in hospital. It is a 74-year-old man”, bringing the number of people killed in this attack to nine, announced the governor of the region of Zaporizhia, Ivan Fedorov.
The man was, according to him, one of the 22 injured, which brings their number to 21.
A five-year-old girl was also among the injured, the Interior Ministry said in the morning, according to which “up to five people could be trapped under the rubble.”
Tuesday evening, the emergency services said they were able to “save two women” who had spent “more than seven hours under the rubble” in temperatures close to zero.
According to Governor Fedorov, “20 residential buildings and three non-residential buildings were damaged” and more than 160 rescuers are working on site.
| © Telegram /@ivan_fedorov_zp/AFP Photo published on December 10, 2024 on the official Telegram channel of the head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov, showing rescue workers in front of a damaged building at the site of a strike in Zaporizhzhia |
He released photos showing mechanical excavators and firefighters working near ruined buildings.
The Zaporizhia region is one of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow has claimed to annex in 2022, without fully controlling it.
Experts and Ukrainian soldiers believe that the Russian army could prepare a new ground offensive on the Southern front, where positions have remained generally unchanged in recent months.
| © AFP Ukraine: positions of military forces |
Such an operation 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.
“Ten to twelve additional Patriot systems” will allow Ukraine to “fully protect its skies,” he said.
A Russian attack had already left 10 dead in Zaporizhia last Friday.
