One person was killed, 10 were wounded and four appeared to be trapped under rubble following overnight Russian missile attacks in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Ukrainian interior minister Ihor Klymenko and regional officials said yesterday.
Russia fired six missiles at three settlements in the region, most of which are occupied by Russian forces, Klymenko said on the Telegram messaging app.
“Pokrovsk, Novohrodivka and Myrnohrad were shot. The shelling injured another 10 people, as well as 4 children. Five other people are being searched under the rubble,” the minister said.
Later, the Donetsk government said rescuers had discovered a frame while four others, including a child, were still under the rubble.
Klymenko said among the wounded were a family with two children. Two 13-year-olds were also wounded, he said, and an apartment block, nine private houses, a police station, cars and garages were damaged.
Klymenko, a police paramedic, helped a man with an injured baby out of the rubble.
Invasion Russian forces have occupied much of Donetsk and Russia has announced plans to seize the region.
Ukraine’s military earlier said its air defense shot down 14 of 20 drones in a Russian strike in the middle of the night.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited a frontline command post in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces have stepped up their attacks after repelling a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Zelensky praised Ukrainian troops deployed around Kupiansk, where Russian forces have introduced attacks to regain territory they lost in a Ukrainian blitzkrieg last year.
But the front line remained largely static last year, despite a major advance by Ukrainian forces this summer with equipment from the Western army.
“Fighters on the Kupiansk front protect the non-violent lives of Ukrainians and citizens of the Kharkiv region,” Zelensky said in a social media post. “I wish you victory, be strong and don’t lose the initiative. “
Zelensky’s visit came as Russia’s defence ministry said Moscow’s forces had repelled two Ukrainian assaults near Kupiansk with the help of fighter jets and artillery, reports AFP.
Ukrainian military officials meanwhile said Russian forces had continued trying to wrest control of Avdiivka, a frontline town in the neighbouring Donetsk region.
Russia introduced a new strategy to capture the war-torn city last month and analysts recommend that Moscow’s forces have made slow advances, albeit at a huge human cost.
“The enemy continues active ground infantry attacks in the operational area of the Tavria operational-strategic group of troops. In some places, they use armoured vehicles,” said Oleksandr Tarnavsky, who is responsible for fighting in the east.