KYIV/NEW YORK, March 2, 2023—Last night, a Russian missile struck a five-story residential building in Zaporizhzhia city in southeastern Ukraine, which housed approximately 300 people in 70 apartments. In collaboration with local authorities, emergency teams from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are at the scene of the attack providing medical consultations, psychological first aid, and essential relief items to those affected.
The total number of casualties is yet to be confirmed, but according to the local prosecutor general's office, four people were killed, eight people were injured, and five people remain missing. The missile split the building in half, and electricity and water supplies were cut off. Shrapnel and the shock wave from the blast also caused damage to neighboring residential buildings.
Our teams are now providing treatment to people with skin cuts and burns, as well as psychological first aid. We have so far provided 37 medical and eight psychological consultations via a mobile clinic, which includes a medical doctor, two psychologists, and a health promoter. Most of the patients we treated were older people.
