Ukraine president posted a video Wednesday showing what he said Russian missiles slamming into an apartment building in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia. After Russia launched launched exploding drones that killed at least four people at a student dormitory near Kyiv before dawn.
Just hours earlier, Japan’s prime minister left the Ukrainian capital following a show of support for the country.
The same day, Chinese leader Xi Jinping left Moscow after discussing his proposal for ending the war. Which has been rejected by the West as a non-starter.
The video posted by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Telegram appeared to be CCTV footage that captured the missile strike. A missile hit the nine-story residential block by a busy road.
Ukrainian media carried pictures showing charred apartments on several stories of the affected buildings. Flames were billowing from some of them. The number of causalities was unknown.
However, Vladimir Rogov claimed the building was hit by a Ukrainian air defense missile that was launched to intercept a Russian missile. An official with the Moscow-appointed regional administration for the Russia-occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region.
He didn’t cite offer any evidence to back up his claim.
Russia Denied
Russia has denied targeting residential areas even though artillery and rocket strikes hit apartment buildings.
Russian officials have blamed Ukrainian air defenses for some of the deadliest strikes on apartment buildings in the past.
An overnight drone attack partially destroyed a high school and two dormitories in the city of Rzhyshchiv. Ukrainian air defenses downed 16 of the 21 drones launched by Russia.
“Over 20 Iranian murderous drones, plus missiles, numerous shelling occasions, and that’s just in one last night of Russian terror,” Zelenskyy wrote in English on Twitter.
“Every time someone tries to hear the word ‘peace’ in Moscow, another order is given there for such criminal strikes,” he wrote.
