Russian Strike Kills Two In Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia

Kyiv, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Dec, 2024) A missile strike on Tuesday killed two and wounded more than a dozen in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, officials said.

Southern Ukraine has seen intensified strikes this autumn, reinforcing fears of a new Russian offensive in the area.

"A rescue operation is currently underway in Zaporizhzhia following a brutal Russian missile strike," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

He posted a video of rescuers carrying a corpse in a white body bag and searching through the rubble at the scene of the attack, which destroyed an office building and a private medical clinic in the centre of Zaporizhzhia.

Regional governor Ivan Fedorov said that two people had been killed, lowering the toll from the three previously announced.

"So far, 16 people have been taken to hospital: nine women and seven men," Fedorov said, adding that two of the injured were medics.

"At least six people are currently trapped under the rubble," the governor said.

Separately, the IAEA nuclear watchdog, which monitors the city's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant that is under the control of Russian troops, said one of their cars was damaged by a drone.

"A drone hit and severely damaged an official vehicle of the IAEA on the road to Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant today," the agency said on X, posting an image of the armoured vehicle.

The IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said no one was injured but condemned the attack on his staff.

Zaporizhzhia is one of the four Ukrainian regions Moscow claimed to have annexed in 2022, despite not fully controlling it.

In mid-November, the Ukrainian army warned that Russia was building up infantry and armoured vehicles while stepping up aerial bombardments ahead of planned attacks along Ukraine's southern front.

Escalated fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region would pose a significant threat to Ukrainian forces, which are losing ground in the eastern Donetsk region and in Russia's border region of Kursk.

Moscow has made steady gains across the eastern front line in recent months, including on Tuesday, when the Russian defence ministry said it had captured the village of Zhovte near the Kyiv-held supply hub of Pokrovsk.

Ukraine has been pleading for more support from its allies to help it fend off Russian troops on the battlefield and daily aerial attacks.

Zelensky reiterated that call after the strike on Zaporizhzhia.

"Each of these strikes proves that we need to enhance our air defence capabilities," he said.

"This matter depends entirely on political decisions: decisions by the US administration, European leaders and other partners around the world."