site.btaBulgarian Vassil Mitkov from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine: We Are Under Constant Missile Attacks

"We are under constant missile attacks and shelling in the city of Zaporizhzhia. It's scary to be woken up by explosions every night because you don't know where the missile will hit. The enemy has become more active around here in the last two months. There have been casualties, destruction, damage to houses, apartment buildings and infrastructure in and around the city," Vassil Mitkov, longtime head of a Bulgarian association in Zaporizhzhia, told BTA Tuesday.

"Last night [August 7] there were two loud explosions. During the night of August 6, there were the sounds of 12 explosions. They keep firing during the day, as well. All this creates tension among the population. However, we are all looking forward to victory and the end of the war," Mitkov added.

According to the website of the Zaporizhzhia Regional State Administration, over the past three days the Zaporizhzhia regional centre, as well as Pologivsky and Vasilevsky regions have been shelled and subjected to missile attacks. A total of 87 artillery shells fell on the territories of Huliaipole, Novodarivka, Novoandriivka, Novodarivka, Novodanylivka, Bilogirya, Plavni, among others.

According to official data, some 3,600 Bulgarians live in the Ukrainian regional centre of Zaporizhzhia. In Zaporizhzhia Region, ethnic Bulgarians number some 30,000. The Bulgarian expatriate population is concentrated in the Primorsky, Berdyansky, Melitopolsky and Priazovsky regions, which are under temporary occupation.