At least two people have died and around fifty have been injured, including eight minors, after a new attack by the Russian Army against the Zaporiyia region, in southeastern Ukraine, according to statements by local authorities.
The regional military chief, Mykhailo Semikin, has specified that the Russian shelling has been focused mainly on a block of multi-storey housing, where significant damage has been recorded and several fires have broken out in the building’s structure.
Emergency services have stated that they managed to rescue 17 residents who had become trapped inside their apartments as a direct consequence of the attack.
The Ukrainian Army has emphasized that this latest Russian strike was carried out with two rockets launched from a multiple launch rocket system “Tornado-S,” which hit several residential buildings located in the commercial district of the locality.
The attack occurs at a time when Russian forces are trying to consolidate a logistical blockade over Zaporiyia, a maneuver that could facilitate the advance toward the city of Dnipró, as Ukrainian commander Yevhén Lasiichuk warned in an interview released on November 10 and cited by “The Kiyv Independent.”
This offensive coincides with an increase in military pressure on Ukrainian positions in the area, where about 75 percent of the territory remains under Russian control, according to maps prepared by the DeepState platform.
According to Lasiichuk, Moscow would be trying to open a new axis of advance on this front with the aim of forcing Kiev to move units from the Donetsk region, where Russian troops are facing serious difficulties in breaking through the defenses of several heavily fortified Ukrainian cities.
This latest attack takes place after the United States announced, still without a specific date, a new round of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in which a “European team” will participate, made up of representatives of the Community institutions together with Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Poland.