Russian missiles level apartment complex in Ukraine after blast damages key bridge to Crimea

Russian forces pounded an apartment complex in southeastern Ukraine on Sunday, killing at least 13 people and wounding more than 85 others, a day after a blast damaged a bridge linking Russia to the Crimean Peninsula.

Ukrainian officials claimed a Russian missile attack had struck an apartment block and other residential buildings in the city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least 13 people and wounding 87 others, including 10 children, according to Reuters.

The news agency cited a report on Ukrainian state-run television that claimed the pre-dawn bombardment in Zaporizhzhia was the second of its kind against the city in three days. Russian aircraft launched at least 12 missiles, partially destroying a nine-story apartment block, leveling five other residential buildings and damaging many more.

Saturday’s explosion partially collapsed a bridge over the Kerch Strait, disrupting a key supply line for Russian forces throughout southeastern Ukraine and triggering a new escalation in the war, with officials in Moscow calling for aggressive retaliation.

While Ukrainian forces have not claimed responsibility for Saturday’s blast, the explosion evoked expressions of satisfaction from Ukrainian officials on social media. It also came after threats by Ukrainian officials to strike the bridge to the peninsula that Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.

The speaker of Crimea’s Kremlin-backed regional parliament immediately accused Ukraine of being behind the explosion, though Moscow hadn’t officially blamed Kyiv as of Sunday, amid confusion over what had caused the blast.

Russian authorities say a truck bomb detonated on the bridge. They also claimed Sunday that freight and passenger trains were still able to pass over the bridge.

Russian forces, meanwhile, appeared to respond with escalation.

• This article is based in part on wire service reports.