Death toll from Russian strikes on Ukrainian town increases to 14

At least 14 people died when seven Russian missiles struck the industrial town of Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, the town council’s secretary announced late Friday.

The missiles struck before dawn on Thursday, with three landing in the town center, just 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the artillery battles of the southern front.

“Sad news keeps coming to us from the analysis of the buildings hit during the attack,” said Anatoly Kurtev via Telegram.

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“For now, the number of dead has gone up to 14.”

The first official toll from the missile strikes had been one dead and seven wounded. The emergency services lifted the toll to 11 dead on Friday.

A five-story residential building on the main street was almost razed to the ground.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lashed out on Telegram saying Zaporizhzhia “is subjected to massive rocket attacks every day... (it’s a) deliberate crime.”

The Ukrainian-controlled city is located in the eponymous Zaporizhzhia region, also home to the Russian-occupied nuclear plant that has been the site of heavy shelling.

Moscow claims to have annexed the region even though its forces do not control all of it.

Ukraine said at least 30 people were killed last week when a convoy of civilian cars in the Zaporizhzhia region was shelled in an attack Kyiv blamed on Moscow.

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