Reuters
A Russian missile strike killed 11 people on Saturday in and around the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, the Governor of the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk region said.
“Eleven dead, including five children – these are the consequences for now of strikes on Pokrovsk district,” Vadym Filashkin wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Rescuers work at the site of a Russian missile strike in an area of the Pokrovsk town, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine on 6th January, 2024. PICTURE: Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Donetsk region/Handout via Reuters
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, said Russian must be made to feel the consequences of every such attack.
“The Russian strike quite simply targeted ordinary, private homes,” Zelenskiy said. “And Russia must be made to feel that none of these strikes will pass without consequences for the terrorist state.”
Pictures posted online by the Regional Governor showed rescue squads sifting through large piles of smouldering rubble in the dark as well as a burned-out vehicle.
Filashkin said S-300 missiles had been used in a series of Russian attacks, with the main strike hitting the town of Pokrovsk and nearby villages.
He said the attack showed Russian forces were “trying to inflict as much grief as possible on our land”.
There was no immediate response to a request for comment from Russia’s Defence Ministry.
Pokrovsk had been subject to Russian shelling on Friday. The town lies in Ukrainian-held territory, about 80 kilometres north-west of Donetsk, the Russian held centre of the region.
The Governor of the adjacent Dnipropetrovsk region said one person was killed in drone strikes around the town of Nikopol, a frequent Russian target on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River from the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
And officials said three people were injured in Russian shelling of areas of Kherson region to the south-west.
