POKROVSK, Donetsk region, Ukraine — A Russian double-tap missile attack killed at least five people and wounded 41 others, including four children, in the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk on Monday (June 24), regional officials said.
"This is one of the largest enemy attacks on civilians recently," regional governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram.
Girls aged 9, 11, and 13, and a 12-year-old boy were injured, he added.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address, said Ukraine would respond "in an absolutely fair manner" to the missile attack on Pokrovsk.
Petro, a local resident, was circling a smashed blue car, the driver's seat soaked with blood, flowing into a vibrant red puddle. His son was killed while driving, and his grandson was hospitalised. "My son, he is dead already, it's done," he said, weeping.
Six cars and 16 private houses were damaged, and one house was destroyed, Filashkin said.
Russian troops launched two Iskander-M ballistic missiles at the town which is about 24 km from the frontline, he added. The strikes were half an hour apart, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's office said.
The attack left a huge crater in front of houses with shattered windows and smashed rooftops.
Olha, 58, was inside her house when the second missile landed.
"I already started running around here, confused, and I get out — there was such screaming after the second strike... a boy, passer-by likely, was lying covered in blood," she told Reuters.
The Pokrovsk sector has for some time been the scene of some of the heaviest fighting along the 1,000-km front line) stretching across eastern and southern Ukraine.
"Today, the hottest area is the Pokrovsk direction, where the aggressor continues attempts to break through our defence, the General Staff of the armed forces said on Monday, citing 45 enemy attacks in the area.
"The defence forces are taking measures to exhaust the Russian occupation troops and prevent their advance deep into Ukranian territory."
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