13 dead after Russian rockets hit central Ukraine

Shelling by Russian forces killed 13 people and seriously injured five others in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region overnight, according to the region’s military administration chief.

The towns of Myrivska and Marhanets in the Nikopol district were hit by 80 rockets that landed in residential areas late Tuesday evening, Valentyn Reznichenko wrote in a Telegram post on Wednesday.

Marhanets is on the opposite bank of the Dnipro river to the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

More than 20 high-rise buildings, a cultural center, two schools, the city council building and several other administrative buildings were hit, Reznichenko said.

Several thousand people are without electricity in Marhanets, while up to a thousand people in Myrivska are without gas, according to Reznichenko. “It was a tragic night,” he wrote in the post.

A bit of context: Kyiv has accused Russian forces of stockpiling heavy weapons and launching attacks from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which they took over in early March. Moscow, meanwhile, claimed that Ukrainian troops were targeting the compound. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described recent artillery and rocket fire in the area as ‘suicidal’, further adding to fears of an accident at the plant, which is the largest of its kind. in Europe.