At least 13 persons were killed and 87 were injured in a Russian missile attack on the city of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine on Sunday, Reuters reported.
Ten children were among those who were injured, officials told the news agency.
Oleksandr Starukh, the governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, said that Russian aircraft fired at least 12 missiles, levelling five residential buildings, partially destroying a nine-storey apartment building and causing damage to several other structures.
Sixty of those who sustained injuries have been hospitalised, regional officials said.
This was the second such attack on the city in three days, according to Reuters. It took place a day after an explosion hit a key bridge connecting Russia with the region of Crimea that is reportedly a supply line for Russian forces engaged in combat operations around the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the missile attack on Sunday as an act of absolute evil, the Associated Press reported.
“Again, Zaporizhzhia. Again, merciless attacks on civilians, targeting residential buildings, in the middle of the night,” he said. “...From the one who gave this order, to everyone who carried out this order: they will answer. They must. Before the law and the people.”
Zaporizhzhia has been hit by shelling several times in the past few weeks. The most recent such incident took place on Thursday, in which 19 persons were killed.
The city is around 52 kilometres away from a nuclear power plant. The power plant, as also most of the Zaporizhzhia region, has been under Russian control for several months. The city, however, remains in Ukraine’s control.
Russian officials did not immediately comment on the missile attacks on Sunday. However, Moscow has in the past denied deliberately targeting civilians.
Russia had launched an invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The Kremlin described its actions as a “special operation” to demilitarise and “de-Nazify” Ukraine. However, Kyiv and several Western nations have said that this is a baseless pretext for a war of choice by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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