๐At least 11 people, including five children, have been killed by a Russian missile strike on the eastern Ukraine town of Pokrovsk.
๐ On Saturday, the regional governor said fresh assault has been made by Russia, as the bombardments intensify, reported AFP.
๊ฆฏSince late December, there has been an increase in the number of strikes in both Ukraine and Russia, with particularly heavy casualties, as the war triggered by Russia's invasion in February 2022 nears the end of its second year.
๐Despite the intensification, the front line has barely shifted.
๊ฆEight people were also wounded when Russian forces hit the area with S-300 missiles, the report said.
๐"The main blow was dealt to Pokrovsk and Rivne in the community of Myrnograd," AFP quoted the head of the Donetsk region, Vadim Filashkin as saying.
๐ฝHe released photographs showing rescue workers working through the debris of the attack which damaged six houses in Pokrovsk and another in nearby Rivne, it said.
โAccording to the emergency services the toll could rise with six people, including two children, believed to be under the rubble of one of the buildings, the report said.
๐ฆUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the attacks saying "the Russians just hit ordinary residential buildings, private houses", it mentioned.
๐ทHe assured that no Russian strike "will go without consequence", it said.
๐ฆฉThe town of Pokrovsk, which had a population of 60,000 before the war, had already been hit by a deadly bombardment last August, which left nine people dead and 82 injured, the report mentioned.
๐ฎThe town is around fifty kilometres (30 miles) from the front line of the fighting.
๊ฆซElsewhere in Ukraine, one adult and two children were injured in shelling in the Kherson region in the south, it said.
๐One person was killed in Toretsk, near Bakhmut, and another was killed and two injured in Nikopol, in the east, according to the respective regional authorities, it added.
Escalation of strikes:
๊ฆIn the Russian-occupied territories of eastern Ukraine, two people were killed by Ukrainian shelling in Makiivka and Gorlovka, an attack that also left several people injured, according to the local authorities installed by Moscow, it said.
๐Russia on Saturday also said its forces had shot down four Ukrainian missiles over Moscow-annexed Crimea overnight, it stated.
เนThe attack came a day after Russia said it repelled a Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea, downing 36 of them over the peninsula, it added.
๐งKyiv said it had hit the Saki airbase in western Crimea, it said.
๐งUkraine has targeted Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, since the start of Moscow's full-scale offensive, it added.
๐Russia also said that it had destroyed six Ukrainian Neptune naval missiles over the Black Sea, it added.
โThe number of strikes on both sides has multiplied in recent days, with Russia in particular bombing Ukrainian towns en masse on two occasions: on December 29, when 55 people were killed, and on Wednesday when six died, it mentioned.
โฆFor its part, Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the Russian town of Belgorod, 50 kilometres from the border, including an unprecedented attack last Saturday that killed 25 people, it said.
๐ฌHundreds were also injured in these attacks, it stated.
