Top commander: Ukraine will hit back at Russia in Bakhmut ‘very soon’
Russia launching another round of deadly strikes across Ukraine, killing at least nine people in the Kiev region. Another in Zaporizhia, this is according to officials there. A top Ukrainian general says Russian forces have been battered so badly fighting for Bakhmut that Ukrainian troops in Kiev will be able to go on a counter offensive in that eastern city, what he says very soon. CNN correspondent David McKenzie joins us now live from Odessa. David, what's the latest? John Anerika, that's an interesting statement from that very senior official or general from the Ukrainian military saying that in Bakhmut, in the eastern part of this conflict, after many, many months of fierce fighting, his estimation is that Ukrainians are depleting the Russian forces, mostly those Wagner mercenary groups very severely, and that it may lead to a depletion such that they can mount a counter offensive. I have to say it's impossible to very, really verify that accurately, but there is a sense in the last few days that Ukrainians are making some ground, though they do only control a limited part of that heavily destroyed city that's been under contestation for many, many, many months. And you've had a very tragic raise in the death toll from those drone strikes in Kiev, those Shaheid Iranian drone striking civilian areas, and also in Zaporizhia with a missile strike, a dramatic and tragic strike on an apartment building, a nine-story building, partially destroyed, miraculously.
It seemed at this point only one dead, many injured, though, John. And it comes as President Zelensky has been on this tour over the last few days, two front line regions. He was in the east, then in the northeast, and now he's close to where I am to the front lines, inspecting damage from previous engagements and areas that Ukraine took back months ago. You do get a sense that everyone's wondering and waiting to see if that counter-affective does in fact begin soon. John, Erika? Yeah, exactly. David McKenzie, appreciate the reporting this morning. Thank you.
Asenia, Ukrainian official, is accusing Russia of a deliberate strike on civilians after a missile slammed into residential buildings in Zaporizhia. The disturbing moment was caught on camera. Ukraine says this was one of six missiles fired at the city on Wednesday. At least one person was killed and dozens injured in those attacks, while nine others were killed in strikes on the Kiev region. Ukraine's president is promising a response to what he calls Russian savagery. We'll see Ines Klesbastin joining me now to talk about this. This was Claire Callis' attack on civilian life.
What more have we been learning about the aftermath of these attacks? Not just in Zaporizhia, of course, but in Kiev, or the Kiev region as well. Yeah, Wednesday was a pretty deadly day for civilians overall. That attack in both cases in the Kiev region and in Zaporizhia, the rescue efforts have now finished. We're hearing in Zaporizhia, according to the emergency services, they are quoting the national police as saying that they believe this was from the Smurch rocket launcher system. That's a multiple launch rocket system that Russia uses, that that was responsible for those six missiles that were levied at the city of Zaporizhia. The death toll there stands at 132 injured, including three children. Over in the Kiev region, that was a drone strike.
This was part of a barrage of drones that were launched at Ukraine overnight, Tuesday into Wednesday. Five of them evaded air defenses and one of them hit this sort of training school, a professional training school with dormitory buildings. Nine people now confirmed dead there. President Zelensky, meanwhile, turned up on the eastern front line near Bakhmut and he had this to say about those attacks. We will certainly respond to every blow of the occupiers on our cities. Today's Russian strikes on Zaporizhia, the nightly attack on the Kiev region, all Russian strikes will receive a military, political and legal response. That visit presumably designed to boost morale in the city where they've been continuing that bloody defense.
Meanwhile, this morning, a Ukrainian top general saying that he expects that Ukraine might be able to go on the offensive in Bakhmut soon because he says Russian forces are depleted. Yeah, I mean, that visit also start contrasts what we saw from President Putin earlier this week in Mariupol under the cover of Dark Miss Erklare. Thanks very much.
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