by Ukrainian officials said on Saturday that Russian missile strikes on a town and village near the eastern front line had killed at least 11 people, including five children, and wounded 10.
Vadym Filashkin, governor of Ukrainian-controlled areas in the Donetsk region, said the Russian military attacked the area with a barrage of missiles on Saturday night, destroying private homes and trapping residents under rubble. The Russian government did not immediately comment on the reports.
“The enemy is cynically attacking civilians, trying to cause as much pain as possible to our land,” he said. he wrote in a social media post., which included footage of rescuers searching through the remains of smoldering houses in the dead of night. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in a statement that rescue operations were underway. “The Russian attack simply targeted ordinary private homes,” Zelensky said.
Saturday’s attack, which could not be independently confirmed, was reported as Russia and Ukraine have been locked in an escalating cycle of airstrikes in recent days. Moscow, in particular, has targeted Ukrainian territory with some of the largest attacks since the war began nearly two years ago, killing 90 civilians and wounding more than 400 in five days. according to the United Nations.
kyiv, in apparent retaliation, has attacked the Russian region of Belgorod, bordering Ukraine, with attacks that, according to Russian authorities, have left at least 24 dead and 100 injured. Russia’s claims could not be independently verified.
Ukrainian officials said Saturday’s attack involved S-300 missiles, which are surface-to-air missiles normally used to attack aircraft but have increasingly been repurposed by Russia to attack ground targets.
The two places that were attacked on Saturday – the city of Pokrovsk and the town of Myrnohrad – are located about 40 kilometers from some of the places on the eastern front line with the fiercest fighting, including Avdiivka, a city that forces Russians have attacked ferociously for months.
It is not the first time that Pokrovsk, a logistics center of the Ukrainian army, has been attacked. In August, two Russian missiles hit the city center 37 minutes apart and in almost the same location, in what appeared to be a “double-tap” attack aimed at killing rescuers who responded to the first attack. The attacks killed nine people and injured 82.
Before the war, the population of Pokrovsk was about 50,000 people. It fell to about 30,000 in the spring of 2022, when many people fled west to escape the Russian invasion. But by last spring, it had risen again to 57,000, as residents, eager to return to their homes as the war dragged on, returned. Other surrounding hotspots, such as Avdiivka, also moved to Pokrovsk.
It is unclear whether some people have fled again as the fighting has gotten closer and more intense in recent months. Since the fall, Moscow has launched a series of attacks along the eastern front, trying to encircle the town of Avdiivka, a lynchpin of Ukrainian defenses in the Donetsk region, and apparently taking control of Marinka, about 40 kilometers away. southeast of Pokrovsk, the last time. week.
The Russian offensive has come at a high cost in casualties for both sides, and cities targeted by Russian attacks have often been reduced to rubble due to relentless bombing.
