According to Ukrainian authorities, Russian forces continued to bombard eastern Ukraine on Sunday 7/10/2010, killing at least 15 civilians in a strike that tore through an apartment building in Chassiv Iar.
This small community of around 12,000 people was hit by a night strike. The rescue revealed that 24 people were still trapped under rubble, including one child. Five other people were rescued from the rubble.
Pavlo Kyrylenko (guvernor of Donetsk, which the Russian army seeks to conquer), stated that the four-story building was struck by a Russian Hurricane missile.
AFP journalists arrived at the scene after the strike and saw the partially collapsed building, rescuers, and a backhoe clearing the area.
The governor stated that rescuers had so far been able to contact two people living under the rubble.
Moscow has made Donetsk, a predominantly Russian-speaking region in Ukraine, its priority target. Moscow claimed to have taken the entire Lugansk area following the withdrawal of the Ukrainian cities of Lyssychansk and Severodonetsk in recent weeks.
Pavlo Kyrylenko reports that 591 civilians were killed and 1,548 others injured in Donetsk since the Russian invasion began on February 24, 2014.
"The Russian artillery strikes are not stopping for a day, Sloviansk and Bakhmout, Avdiivka condemned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zilensky Saturday evening, still calling on for "modern, powerful" weapons to defend themselves.
Volodymyr Zelensky charged Moscow with "deliberately and intentionally hitting mere houses, civilian items, people." There are many casualties, including dead and injured.
A number of Ukrainian officials also accuse the Russians of setting fires to the fields in an attempt to destroy crops.
Staff of the Ukrainian army reported that there were many Russian bombardments on Saturday but very few ground attacks by Moscow forces.
Kyiv claimed that it had targeted two "command posts" and Russian depots within the Chornobaivka (South) region.
Oleg Synegoubov, the Governor of Kharkiv (northeast), the country’s second-largest city, reported on Telegram that a new missile fire had struck an "educational institution" as well as a house in Kharkiv. One person was also injured. Additional Russian strikes have been reported in Siversk, Sloviansk (East), and the Mykolaiv (South).
Rodion Mirochnik (ambassador in Moscow for the separatist republic Lugansk), stated on Telegram Sunday that an offensive was launched against Siversk "from the north" in Donetsk and Grygorivka had been "captured following fighting." He stated that "our troops continue military operations to liberate Serebrianka" another area in the region.
In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated Saturday evening that the Ukrainians were accused of installing men and weapons in schools and civilian buildings throughout the Donetsk-Kharkiv region.
