Death toll rises to 17 after Russian missile strike near nuclear plant

At least 17 people including a child died when seven Russian missiles struck the industrial town of Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, the Ukrainian authorities said Saturday.

The missiles hit before dawn on Thursday, with three landing in the town center, just 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the artillery battles of the southern front.

“In total, 17 people were killed,” Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said on Telegram, adding that one of them was a child.

The toll has repeatedly risen since an initial tally of one dead. Earlier on Saturday, it had stood at 14.

A five-story residential building on the main street was almost razed to the ground.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lashed out on Telegram saying Zaporizhzhia “is subjected to massive rocket attacks every day… [it’s a] deliberate crime.”

The Ukrainian-controlled city is located in the eponymous Zaporizhzhia region, also home to the Russian-occupied nuclear plant that has been the site of heavy shelling.

Moscow claims to have annexed the region even though its forces do not control all of it.

Ukraine said at least 30 people were killed last week when a convoy of civilian cars in the Zaporizhzhia region was shelled in an attack Kyiv blamed on Moscow.