At least 12 people died this Sunday after Russian bombardments in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia, which occurred the day after an explosion that partially destroyed the strategic Crimean bridge, built by Russia. According to the first reports, Sunday’s attacks left between 12 and 17 dead.
“Following a night missile attack in Zaporizhia, 17 people have been killed,” Anatoliy Kurtev, secretary of the city’s municipal council, told Telegram. The bombings damaged houses, blocks of flats and educational centers, he said.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said for his part that there were 12 dead and that 49 wounded, including six children, were taken to hospital.
Zaporizhia, in southern Ukraine, has suffered several attacks in recent weeks. On Thursday, seven Russian missiles hit the center of the city and left 17 dead.
The bombings come the day after a huge explosion, attributed by Moscow to a truck bomb, on the Crimean bridge, which connects Russia with this peninsula in southern Ukraine annexed by Moscow in 2014. The bridge was inaugurated in 2018 and built to Putin’s initiative to unite the peninsula with Russia.
“It makes no sense. Pure evil. Terrorists and savages. From the one who gave the order to the one who executed it. Everyone has a responsibility. Before the law and before the people,” Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
A Ukrainian regional official, Oleksandr Starukh, also reported 12 dead, but said there could still be more victims under the rubble.
The city of Zaporizhia is located in the homonymous region where the nuclear plant taken by the Russians is located and which has been threatened by the continuous fighting around it.
On Saturday, the United Nations nuclear agency warned that the plant, Europe’s largest, had lost its last external source of electricity due to the attacks and was now relying on emergency generators.
Zaporizhia is also one of four areas whose annexation was announced last week by Russian President Vladimir Putin, contrary to international law.
On Sunday, Russian divers were scheduled to examine the bridge from the sea, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Jusnulin announced. The results should be published this same day.
Traffic, both cars and trains, was restored on the bridge a few hours after the detonation.
