TWO RUSSIAN MISSILE strikes on the east Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, including on a residential building, have killed at least five people and wounded 18 others.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow had struck an “ordinary residential building”, publishing footage of a typical Soviet-era five-storey building that had its top floor destroyed.

Ukraine said rescue operations were ongoing.

Pokrovsk lies some 70 kilometres (43 miles) north-west of the city of Donetsk, held by Russia, and some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the frontline.

“Five dead and 18 wounded as a result of two strikes on a residential building in Pokrovsk,” Igor Klymenko, Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, said on Telegram.

The second attack killed a high-ranking emergency official of the Donetsk region, he added.

“Another four rescuers, eight police offices and three civilians were injured.”

Klymenko said “search and rescue operations are ongoing.”

Zelenskyy had earlier warned of “victims” in the strike, sharing a video of people clearing rubble from the building.

It showed civilians helping people lying on the floor outside a building and an ordinary car covered in rubble.

The footage also showed a second building that appeared to be heavily damaged.

The head of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said the strikes damaged two “private sector residential buildings, a hotel, catering establishments, shops and administrative buildings.”

He warned of the “threat of repeated attacks” and urged residents to take shelter.

Pokrovsk had a pre-war population of around 60,000 people.

© AFP 2023