Kyiv, Ukraine
Reuters
Two people were killed, 10 were wounded and a family of three were believed to be still trapped under rubble following overnight Russian missile attacks in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday.
Earlier, officials had said one person was killed after six missiles struck the three settlements of Pokrovsk, Novohrodivka and Myrnohrad. In the afternoon, rescuers had retrieved a second body from the debris, according to Ukrainian police.
Rescuers work at a site of a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the town of Novohrodivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on 30th November, 2023. PICTURE: Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Donetsk region/Handout via Reuters
Police said on Telegram that a 33-year-old woman, a 38-year-old man and an eight-year-old girl could still be under the rubble of a residential building in Novohrodivka.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said earlier 10 people, including four children, were wounded. Nine private houses, a police station, cars, and garages were damaged, he added.
Reuters could not independently verify the details.
Invading Russian forces have occupied much of Donetsk and Russia has said it intends to take over the whole region. Moscow has denied deliberately targeting civilians although many have been killed in frequent Russian air strikes.
The Ukrainian military said earlier on Thursday its air defence shot down 14 out of 20 drones in a Russian overnight strike.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited troops near the Kupiansk sector of the frontline in the country’s north-east, he announced on social media on Thursday.
Zelenskiy posted a video of him visiting a command post in the area alongside one of Ukraine’s top generals. The President thanked the troops for their sacrifices.
“I know you lose comrades and those close to you every day. Everyone understands that this is the highest price,” he told the assembled soldiers.
Ukrainian troops have been weathering Russian assaults on the Kupiansk front over the last several months, as Moscow seeks to push back in a sector where it was routed in a lightning counteroffensive more than a year ago.
Moscow has made some small, incremental gains in the area since September, but the front lines have not moved significantly.
– With reporting by MAX HUNDER
