The strike on Zaporozhye was delivered from multiple launch rocket systems, said the speaker of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Yuriy Ignat, on the air of the telethon. According to preliminary data, the Russian army fired from a long-range MLRS – possibly Tornado S.
“This is rocket artillery, it flies very quickly: from launch to hit, in fact, seconds. If our Defense Forces have the opportunity to notify that rocket or cannon artillery will work, then this, of course, is being done. If there is no such possibility, there is no intelligence, then there may be such terrorist attacks of the enemy, which are not the first [carried out] in residential areas of cities,” Ignat said.
As a result of the missile strike, one person was killed. The number of victims rose to 33 people. The details of what happened to The Insider were told by an eyewitness, a local blogger and the founder of the Telegram channel Operativno by HLEP Alexander Khlepitko:
This house is on the street a block up, three or four houses away from me. I was in the apartment on the balcony at the time of arrival. Before that, there was another arrival, but a little further. And at that moment it was noticeable that it was close to my house. But it was immediately incomprehensible, because the panorama was blocked by another house, and nothing could be seen. Then I started watching the news and realized that it was near me.
The DSNS (local Ministry of Emergency Situations) is still working at the scene, some more victims are being lowered on cranes – at the end of the house there are completely destroyed apartments with no walls left. The rubble continues to be cleared. Most of the victims are already in the hospital, one woman died on the way. According to the latest information, 33 victims of varying severity, two children.
Next to this house is a large concentration of people – the largest shopping center in the city. There is an assumption that it was aimed at him. The video clearly shows that the rocket hit the house directly.
Zaporozhye has been shelled at intervals of once or twice a week, starting in October. There are rare weeks without shelling, there are two times a week [shelling]. People in October were more frightened, now they are not just used to it, they began to take care of their nerves, themselves and relatives more, to treat this without anxiety. In principle, there is no panic in the city, but tension remains.
In total, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russia fired six missiles at Zaporozhye on the afternoon of March 22. One of them ended up in a residential building. The impact started a fire that spread to one of the floors of a neighboring house. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video of the moment the rocket hit:
“Right now, a Russian missile hit a multi-storey building. Russia shells the city with brutal cruelty. <…> This should not become “just an ordinary day” in Ukraine, anywhere else in Europe or the world. We need more unity and determination of the world in order to defeat the Russian terror and protect lives as soon as possible.”
The occupying authorities of the Zaporozhye region blame the Ukrainian air defense for the incident.