Zelensky calls for more weapons from West as Russia strikes town outside Zaporizhzhia

Ukrainianauthorities on Saturday (June 29) claimed that seven people were killed and 31 others were injured after Russian side fired missiles at the town of Vilniansk outside the city of Zaporizhzhia.

The Russian defence ministry said on Telegram its missiles had struck a nearby area in the Zaporizhzhia region where Ukrainian trains unloaded arms and military equipment. They also claimed that the attack killed soldiers and destroyed armoured vehicles and missiles.

It is not immediately clearhow many amongst the casualty-sufferers were members of the Ukrainian armed forces andneither side’s battlefield accounts could be independently verified.

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After Saturday's attack, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky repeated his appeal to the western leaders to arm Kyiv with more long-range weapons and enhanceair defences to stop what he said were daily attacks on his country.

Apart from the attack outside Zaporizhzhia, the prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, said two missiles were fired on the town in Ukraine’s south-east which damaged infrastructure, a shop and residential buildings.

Ukraine's emergency services put the death toll at seven, including two children, and said eight of the 31 injured were also children.

Zaporizhzhia’s regional governor, Ivan Fedorov, in an Instagram post said the Vilniansk strike was "yet another dreadful terrorist act against the civilian population". It occurred in "the middle of the day, a non-working day, in the town centre, where people were out relaxing, where there were no military targets."

(With inputs from agencies)