Ukraine says it will respond to shelling of town, vows to hurt Russians more

(Reuters) – Ukraine will respond to the Russian shelling of a town and needs to consider how to inflict as much damage on Russia as possible to end the war quickly, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday.

Ukraine said 13 people died and 10 were wounded when Russia fired rockets at Marhanets from the territory of a nuclear power plant it has captured in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

“The armed forces of Ukraine, our intelligence and our law enforcement agencies will not leave today’s Russian shelling of Dnipropetrovsk region unanswered,” Zelenskiy said in a late night video address.

The attack, he said, underlined the need for allies to supply more powerful weapons to the Ukrainian military.

“The more losses the occupiers suffer, the sooner we will be able to liberate our land and ensure the security of Ukraine,” he said.

“This is what everyone who defends our state and helps Ukraine should think about – how to inflict the greatest possible losses on the occupiers in order to shorten the war.”

The war that began with Russian forces invading its neighbor on Feb. 24 has displaced millions, killed thousands of civilians and left cities, towns and villages in ruins. Ukraine and its Western allies have accused Russian forces of targeting civilians and war crimes, charges Russia rejects.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren and Ronald Popeski; Editing by Leslie Adler and Grant McCool)