Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia kills six
The death toll from a Russian missile strike that destroyed a clinic in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia has risen to six, while four more people remain under the rubble, the regional governor and emergency services said.
An additional 22 people were injured, governor Ivan Fedorov said on his Telegram messaging channel.
“All emergency services of the city are working at the scene,” he said.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service of Ukraine said its rescuers were able to pull out two women overnight from underneath the ruins of the building.
Russia regularly carries out airstrikes on Zaporizhzhia and the surrounding region. Last Friday, an attack on the city killed 10 people and wounded more than 20.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in their attacks, saying the aim of the strikes is to undermine infrastructure key to each other’s war efforts.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has consistently asked its allies to supply more advanced air-defence systems.
People were being helped out of the badly damaged building. One person was in a severe condition, and two medics were among the injured, according to Fedorov.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukraine’s allies to provide 10-12 more Patriot air defence systems that he said would fully protect the country’s skies.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the strike "brutal" and issued a fresh appeal for allies to supply Ukraine with air defences.
In a post on social media platform X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Zaporizhzhia strike proves that Ukraine needs to enhance its air defence systems.
He added that Kyiv submitted all the necessary requests to its partners to do so.
Russia, which launched its all-out war in Ukraine in Feb. 2022, regularly carries out strikes on Zaporizhzhia and the surrounding region.
The attack comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he’s open to the potential deployment of Western troops in Ukraine to guarantee the country’s security as part of a broad effort to end the almost three-year war with Russia.
