(Kyiv) At least 13 people were injured on Sunday in a series of Russian bombings on Zaporizhia, in southern Ukraine, Ukrainian rescue services announced.
The regional capital was pounded by several “massive airstrikes” at dawn, according to the emergency services’ account in a statement.
“A building and six houses located in different areas of the city suffered significant destruction,” they added, specifying that 42 rescuers were on site to help any people trapped under the rubble.
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Vladyslav, 14, stands next to his apartment destroyed by a Russian airstrike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhia, September 29, 2024.
“The number of victims increased to 13 people. A 17-year-old young man is among the injured,” Ukrainian emergency services continued in a separate statement released later in the morning.
A woman was pulled from the rubble and taken to hospital.
The regional governor, Ivan Fedorov, had previously mentioned the figure of six injured.
The official said that the Russian army had struck the town of Zaporizhia ten times, destroying in particular “a multi-storey building and houses”.
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A firefighter works at the site of an apartment building hit by a Russian airstrike in Zaporizhia, September 29, 2024.
The public railway company Ukrzaliznytsia indicated in a press release that one of the stations in Zaporizhzhia had been “damaged” by these strikes, without however causing any casualties.
The head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriï Iermak, for his part denounced on social networks a new Russian attack aimed at “terrorizing” the civilian population.
Mr. Iermak once again called on Kyiv’s Western allies to provide “more weapons” to intercept fire coming from Russia and to impose effective economic sanctions against the Russian “military-industrial complex”, so as to do more pressure on Moscow.
Russia annexed the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia in 2022, although it did not completely control it. The large eponymous city, located along the Dnieper River, is still under the control of Kyiv, but remains within firing range of Russian attacks.
In the Donetsk region (east), regional governor Vadim Filachkine also reported on Sunday that three people were killed and another injured in Russian strikes in Pokrovsk, a logistical hub for the Ukrainian army and target of Moscow’s forces, which have progressed in recent weeks in the area.
The Russian Ministry of Defense, for its part, claimed responsibility for the capture of Makiïvka, in the neighboring region of Luhansk, a village emptied of its inhabitants since the end of July according to the Ukrainian authorities.
Moscow says it shot down 125 Ukrainian drones overnight
Russia announced on Sunday that it had shot down 125 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 67 in the western region of Volgograd alone, a few hundred kilometers from Ukraine.
“During the night […] 125 Ukrainian drones were destroyed and intercepted by air defenses,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram.
In detail, 67 aircraft were shot down over the Volgograd region, 18 over the Rostov region, 17 over the Belgorod region, the same number over the Voronezh region, one more above that of Bryansk, one also above the Kursk region, another in the regional subdivision of Krasnodar and finally three above the Sea of Azov.
All regions concerned, with the exception of Volgograd and Krasnodar, border Ukraine.
Volgograd is located a few hundred kilometers from the border and Krasnodar neighbors the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia.
Volgograd Governor Andrey Bocharov said on Telegram that there were no casualties or damage, as did his Rostov counterpart Vasily Golubev.
Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev also said there were no casualties in his region, but reported two fires in residential buildings.
Russia announces almost daily that it has destroyed Ukrainian drones launched against its territory.