Sawt Falasteen - Missile strike on Ukraine clinic kills at least four

Southern Ukraine has seen intensified strikes in recent weeks, reinforcing fears of a new Russian offensive.

"A rescue operation is currently underway in Zaporizhzhia following a brutal Russian missile strike," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

He posted a video of rescuers carrying a corpse in a white body bag and searching through rubble after the attack, which destroyed a clinic and an office building in central Zaporizhzhia.

National Police said the "death toll has risen to four", while 19 people were wounded, including a 5-year-old child, after a Russian missile "hit a private clinic in the centre of Zaporizhzhia".

Eight people may still be trapped under the rubble, police said.

- Nuclear agency car struck -

Separately, the IAEA nuclear agency, which monitors the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant -- under the control of Russian troops -- said one of their cars was damaged by a drone.

"A drone hit and severely damaged an official vehicle of the IAEA on the road to Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant today," the UN organisation said on X, posting an image of the armoured vehicle.

IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said no one was injured but condemned the attack.

Zaporizhzhia is one of four Ukrainian regions Moscow claimed to have annexed in 2022, despite not fully controlling it.

In November, the Ukrainian army warned that Russia was building up infantry and armoured vehicles while stepping up aerial bombardments ahead of planned attacks along Ukraine's southern front.

Escalated fighting in Zaporizhzhia would pose a significant threat to Ukrainian forces, which are losing ground in the eastern Donetsk region and in Russia's border region of Kursk.

Moscow has made steady gains in recent months, including on Tuesday, when the Russian defence ministry said it had captured the village of Zhovte near the Kyiv-held supply hub of Pokrovsk.

Ukraine has been pleading with allies for more support to help it fend off Russian troops on the battlefield and daily aerial attacks.

Zelensky reiterated that call after the Zaporizhzhia attack.

"We don't have enough systems to protect our country from Russian missiles," he said in his evening address.

"But our partners have these systems. Again and again, we repeat that air defences should save lives, not gather dust in warehouses."

- 'Live in fear' -

In the eastern Kharkiv region near the front line, a woman told AFP that she and her neighbours feared that no one would be left alive by the time the war ends.

In her village of Ridkodub, Lyudmyla Kovach said that drone and missile attacks that destroyed her neighbours' homes and the remaining residents "live in fear".

"We want it to end as soon as possible so that people can live in peace. Soldiers are being killed. So many people have died and it's especially sad to see children being killed," the 71-year-old said.

"Maybe they want to kill everyone so that there is no one left. I just don't get it," she added, an icy winter wind whipping up snow blanketing the ground.

Kovach added that she wanted negotiations to end the war but worried whether talks could be successful.

"By the time the talks are over, by the time everything is settled, there will be no one left," she said, the sounds of explosions echoing in the distance.

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