(Reuters) -Russian forces staged a mass drone attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia late on Tuesday, triggering fires, injuring 19 people and badly damaging buildings and vehicles, the regional governor said.
Ivan Fedorov, posting on the Telegram messaging app, said the attack had destroyed shops, and damaged 31 apartment blocks and 20 private homes. He said eight people were being treated in hospital.
“A rescue operation is currently underway at 12 locations,” Fedorov said in a video posted online. “The maximum number of units from the State Emergency Services, national police and our medical teams has been deployed.”
Pictures posted online showed firefighters battling blazes at high-rise apartment buildings and gutted vehicles on city streets.
Ukraine’s air force said it downed 72 out of 90 drones and two ballistic missiles launched by Russia in a country-wide attack overnight.
Russian forces occupy large swathes of territory in Zaporizhzhia region and have been making recent gains, though the city of the same name remains under Ukrainian control.
The Russia-appointed head of the Zaporizhzhia region held by Russia, Yevgeny Belitsky, said Ukrainian forces had attacked power grid infrastructure in Russian-controlled areas.
Belitsky, writing on Telegram, said power had been cut to 40,000 customers in Russian-controlled towns in the region.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Stephen Coates)
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