Live updates: Russia’s war in Ukraine
Russian forces fired several missiles on the city of Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine on Thursday, Oleksandr Starukh, head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, said in a post on Telegram.
“The occupiers have launched missiles on the regional center, targeting infrastructure facilities. The extent of destruction and casualties is being clarified. Take shelter!” Starukh said.
He said fires broke out in the Ukrainian-controlled city as a result of the attack, and “residential buildings were destroyed.”
Acting Mayor of Zaporizhzhia, Anatoly Kurtev, also said residential buildings were on fire in a post on Telegram on Thursday.
It’s unclear whether there are casualties, but Starukh said “rescue teams are working” to determine that.
Some context: Zaporizhzhia is one of four areas of Ukraine that Russia claims to have annexed — in violation of international law and despite the protests of Western governments.
Russia has declined to clarify the borders of the territories it claims to have annexed and is not even in full control of these regions — with Kyiv’s forces making rapid advances in their counteroffensive across Ukraine’s south and east.
Moscow only controls just under three quarters of the southeastern region, not including the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, which is situated along the Dnieper River — 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the local nuclear power plant that bears its name.
The power plant has been the site of heavy fighting in recent weeks and has been under Russian military control for months.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin also claimed the facility as Russian federal property after President Vladimir Putin signed a decree amending the Constitution to admit new regions into the Russian Federation. Just as Putin was signing the decree, the Ukrainian state nuclear operator, Energoatom, said its president would assume the duties of the plant’s director general.
The confrontation over the status of the plant and the intense shelling that has damaged numerous installations has led the UN nuclear watchdog to intervene. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Wednesday that he was traveling to Kyiv.
“The need for a Nuclear Safety and Security Protection Zone (NSSPZ) around #Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is now more urgent than ever,” he tweeted at the time.