Russian strikes on Zaporizhzhia kill at least 12, Ukrainian officials say

A Russian missile barrage that crumbled apartment buildings and houses in Ukraine's city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least a dozen people, Ukrainian officials said Sunday as Moscow strained to enforce its takeover of illegally annexed territory.

The blasts that collapsed at least one high-rise residential building and blew out the windows of others came from six missiles launched in Russian-occupied areas of the Zaporizhzhia region, the Ukrainian air force said. The region is one of four Russia claimed as its own this month, but the regional capital remains under Ukrainian control.

In the immediate aftermath of the strikes, the city council said 17 were killed but later revised that down to 12. Regional police reported on Sunday afternoon that 13 had been killed and more than 60 wounded, at least 10 of whom were children.

The multiple strikes came after an explosion Saturday caused the partial collapse of a bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula with Russia. The Kerch Bridge attack damaged an important supply route for the Kremlin's faltering war effort in southern Ukraine, an artery that also is a towering symbol of Russia's power in the region.

The rockets that pounded Zaporizhzhia overnight damaged at least 20 private homes and 50 apartment buildings, city council Secretary Anatoliy Kurtev said. At least 40 people were hospitalized, Kurtev said on Telegram.

The Ukrainian military confirmed the attack, saying there were dozens of casualties.

Stunned residents watched from behind police tape as emergency crews tried to reach the upper floors of a building that took a direct hit. The attack collapsed several floors, leaving a smoldering chasm at least 12 metres wide where apartments had stood. Several hours later, the top floors caved in as well.

In an adjacent apartment building, the barrage blew windows and doors out of their frames in a radius of hundreds of metres.

Tetyana Lazun'ko, 73, and her husband, Oleksii, took shelter in the hallway of their top floor apartment after hearing sirens, warning of an attack. They were spared the worst of the blast that left them in fear and disbelief.

"There was an explosion. Everything was shaking," Lazun'ko said. "Everything was flying and I was screaming."

Shards of glass, entire window and door frames and other debris covered the exterior floors of the apartment where they'd lived since 1974. Lazun'ko wept inconsolably, wondering why their home in an area with no military infrastructure in sight was targeted.

"Why are they bombing us. Why?" she said.

Oleksii, who sat quietly, leaning on a wooden cane, has suffered three strokes, Lazun'ko said. Breaking his silence, he said slowly, "This is international terrorism. You can't be saved from it."

In recent weeks, Russia has repeatedly struck Zaporizhzhia, which is the capital of a region of the same name that Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed in violation of international law last week. At least 19 people died in Russian missile strikes on apartment buildings in the city on Thursday.