On Wednesday March 22, a rocket hit an apartment building in a residential area of the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, causing fire and destruction. At least one person died as a result of the bombardment. Ukrainian authorities blamed the attack on Russia. The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet commented on the situation in Zaporizhzhia.
Zaporizhzhia city council secretary Anatoly Kurtev said on his Telegram channel that at least one person was killed as a result of a rocket hitting a residential building. According to him, 25 victims were hospitalized, three of them in serious condition.
Kurtev said among the victims were at least two children – a seven-year-old and a nine-year-old. “Five other people received medical assistance on site,” the official added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video of the missile strike in Zaporizhzhia on his online accounts, citing a Russian missile strike as the cause of the explosion. “A blow to residential areas where ordinary people, children live,” wrote the Ukrainian leader in his telegram.
The Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration (OVA) telegram channel reports that “all relevant services are working on the scene” and “all necessary security measures are being taken for local residents”.
“Work is underway to locate the fire and rescue has also begun. State Emergency Service employees are looking for people in apartments who may have stayed after they arrived. We are setting up tents and a bus with help for people, ”quotes the 24TV channel, the first deputy mayor of Zaporizhzhia, Alexander Vlasyuk.
The city leader said a nine-storey building on Kazachya Street had been hit by a rocket. According to him, the city authorities are solving the problem of shelters to accommodate the evacuees.
One of the residents of the affected house told Public Zaporizhzhia the details of the incident:
“We were sitting, drinking tea, when we heard an explosive wave. We were thrown away. We came to our senses, saw that the apartment was intact. We started collecting glass and there was a second hit.
According to 24TV, after a rocket hit a residential building, car traffic was restricted along Zaporozhskaya Street in the section from Shkolnaya Street to the coastal highway.
Around 11:40 a.m., a “series of explosions” occurred in Zaporizhzhia, after which local authorities urged citizens to immediately go to shelters, without photographing or filming anything, reports UNIAN. Oleksandr Vlasyuk claims in his telegram channel that “seven or eight missiles flew” in Zaporizhzhia. The head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Andrii Yermak, said on his Telegram channel that the island of Khortytsya had also come under fire.
Ukrainian President Andrii Yermak’s chief of staff accused Russia of bombing Zaporizhzhia. At the time of this publication, the Russian Defense Ministry has not commented on reports of a strike against a residential building. At the same time, a member of the main council of the Russian administration of the Zaporizhzhia region, Vladimir Rogov informed in his Telegram channel that a rocket hitting a high-rise residential building was the result of Ukrainian Armed Forces air defense.
“As a result of the criminal work of the Ukrainian air defense over the city, a missile was shot down, which flew over military installations. Both rockets fell on a nine-story building. He collapsed” declared RIA Novosti official.
The day before, on March 21, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov informed that the Russian armed forces are actively fighting in the direction of Zaporizhzhia. In particular, according to him, a blow was struck at units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the village of Preobrazhenka, Zaporizhzhia region. Also, Konashenkov reported that Russian troops destroy an American-made radar station in the area of the Zaporizhzhya Orekhov settlement. Earlier, on March 20, on the website of the Russian Defense Ministry was published video with the title “Destruction and interruption of the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the direction of Zaporizhzhia by the forces of the motorized rifle units of the Southern Military District”. In February, authorities in Zaporizhzhia reported the largest attack on the city’s energy infrastructure.
