Recent Russian missile attack has resulted in killing of 17 people in Zaporizhzhia, local authorities stated on Sunday, in the latest deadly strike to hit the southern Ukrainian city that President Volodymyr Zelensky called “absolute evil.”
“After night missile attack on Zaporizhzhia, at least 20 houses and about 50 multi-storey buildings were damaged. 17 people died, as of now,” Anatoliy Kurtev, secretary of Zaporizhzhia city council, wrote on Telegram.
Four educational institutions were also damaged, he added.
Zelensky and regional official Oleksandr Starukh provided a lower death toll of 12, with the latter saying that more victims may be under the rubble as a search and rescue operation was launched.
At least 17 people which includes a child died when seven Russian missiles hit Zaporizhzhia before dawn on Thursday, Ukrainian authorities announced in an upwardly revised toll on Saturday.
While adding that 49 people including six children were in hospital, Zelenskyy said via Telegram that, “Zaporizhzhia again. Merciless strikes on peaceful people again. On residential buildings, just in the mid of the night.”
“Absolute meanness. Absolute evil. Savages and terrorists. From the one who gave this order to everyone who fulfilled this order. They will bear responsibility. For sure. Before the law and before people.”
Zaporizhzhia lies close to the frontline where Kyiv’s forces have been carrying out a large-scale counter-attack against Russian troops.