Russian strike kills 13 in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia

At least 13 civilians have been killed and about 30 others have been injured in a Russian-guided bombing attack on Zaporizhzhia, according to officials.

On Wednesday, a graphic video was posted to Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Telegram page that showed bloodied citizens receiving medical attention in a city street.

Nothing is more brutal than bombing a city with an airplane in mind, knowing that regular people will suffer, Zelenskyy wrote on X.

High-rise residential blocks, an industrial facility and other infrastructure were damaged in the attack, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said on Telegram on Wednesday. The debris hit a tram and a bus with passengers inside, it added.

At least two residential buildings were destroyed in the attack, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov, who claimed Russian forces had launched guided bombs at a city residential area in the afternoon.

Moscow has frequently attacked civilian infrastructure during its nearly three-year conflict with Ukraine. It has consistently denied targeting civilians.

Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull, reporting from Kharkiv in Ukraine, said that “strikes were aimed at what has been described as an ‘ industrial site'”.

Hull described “scenes of devastation outside a factory, in a multi-storey apartment building opposite … in addition to a passing tram and minibus, which would have been carrying passengers”.

Marina Miron, a military analyst at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera that “the plant had already been targeted in November, as the Russians say Ukrainians were using it to assemble drones”.

“Owing to the deaths of civilians, however, there is a possibility that Russian navigation systems were jammed”, said Miron.

Russia and Ukraine are attempting to establish a stronghold ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20.

The Ukrainian military reported earlier that day that it had struck a Russian fuel storage facility, igniting a massive fire at the facility where missiles are stored.

Ukraine’s General Staff said that the assault hit the storage facility near Engels, in Russia’s Saratov region, about 600km (373 miles) east of the Ukrainian border.

Kyiv has developed its own long-range missile defense system that can target targets from behind its front line as Ukraine is subject to restrictions on using Western-provided missiles.

Russian logistics have been hampered by the attacks, which started on February 24, 2022.

“Serious security guarantees”

Zelenskyy argued earlier on Wednesday that nations that want to end the conflict should guarantee Ukraine’s future defense.

I think, to be honest, that we have a right to demand immediate security guarantees from nations that promote world peace, Zelenskyy said.

US President-elect Donald Trump made the remarks that he understood Russia’s opposition to neighboring Ukraine joining NATO while holding a press conference in Kyiv.

Trump said in a lengthy media conference late on Tuesday that “Russia has somebody right on their doorstep, and I could understand their feelings about that.

Source: Aljazeera