Shelling by Russian forces killed 13 people and critically wounded five others in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region overnight, according to the head of the region’s military administration.
The towns of Myrivska and Marhanets in Nikopol district were hit by 80 rockets that landed in residential areas late Tuesday night, Valentyn Reznichenko wrote in a Telegram post Wednesday.
Marhanets sits on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River from the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
More than 20 high-rise buildings, a cultural center, two schools, the city council building and several other administrative buildings were struck, 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.
Some context: Kyiv has accused Russian forces of storing heavy weaponry in and launching attacks from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which they took over in early March. Moscow, meanwhile, has claimed Ukrainian troops are targeting the complex. 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.
