‘Dozens killed or injured’ in Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia

Dozens of people have been killed in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia after the Russian military shelled the city during the night, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces says.

“Overnight, the Russian occupiers cynically struck the residential buildings and civil infrastructure,” the military’s central command said on its Facebook page on Sunday.

“Information about victims is being confirmed, but it is already known about dozens of dead or injured.”

Earlier, city official Anatoliy Kurtev said at least 17 people had been killed in an overnight bombardment.

“As a result of an overnight missile attack on Zaporizhzhia, apartment buildings and roads in a residential area of the city have been damaged,” local official Anatoliy Kurtev, the secretary of the city’s administration, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

“At this time, 17 people are known to have died.”

Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands reporting from Kyiv said the city has been “pounded repeatedly” over recent days by Russian airstrikes and missile strikes.

“It’s indiscriminate at best, at worst, it seems intentional,” he added. “The authorities in Zaporizhzhia say that the Russian airplanes launched at least 12 missiles at the city.”Russia is under increasing pressure on the battlefield in Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces continue to push forward in a counteroffensive that began in the Kharkiv region at the beginning of last month.

On Saturday, Moscow announced a new commander for the war, air force chief Sergey Surovikin, after last month announcing the annexation of four occupied areas, in breach of international law, and the mobilisation of some 300,000 reservists.