Death and devastation as Russian rockets hit Ukraine apartment block

Ukraine reported fighting with Russian troops in the east, and south. Moscow claimed that its forces attacked Ukrainian armour hangars housing U.S.-made M777 howitzers. This type of artillery is located near Kostyantynivka, Donetsk.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, Donetsk Governor, stated that the strike against the apartment building occurred on Saturday night in Chasiv Yar. On Sunday, the regional emergency service reported that 15 people died in the attack on the apartment building.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko (deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office) wrote on Telegram that six people were rescued from the rubble at Chasiv Yar and that 23 people, one child included, had remained buried.

"We ran to basement, there were three hits. The first somewhere in the kitchen," said Ludmila, a local resident. She spoke as rescuers removed the body from a white sheet and cleared the rubble with a crane.

"The second, I don't even remember, there were lightning. We ran towards the second entry and then straight into basement. We sat there until the morning, and then we went to bed. Venera, another survivor, stated that she wanted to save her kittens.

She cried, "I was thrown in the bathroom, it had been chaos, it was all, I was shocked, all covered with blood," she said. "The room was filled with rubble and three floors had fallen by the time I got out of the bathroom," she said. The kittens were not found under the rubble.

Andriy Yermak is the chief of staff for President Volodymyr Zeleskiy. He stated in a Telegram posting that this strike was "another terrorist act" and Russia should be declared a state sponsor.

Russia claims it is conducting a special military operation to demilitarize Ukraine. However, it denies intentionally attacking civilians.

The Donbas is Ukraine's eastern industrial area that includes Donetsk and Luhansk. It has been Europe's most important battlefield for generations. Russia is determined to seize control of Donbas for the separatists it supports.

The West, which has been supporting Ukraine by supplying weapons and imposing severe sanctions on Russia, calls Moscow's invasion an unprovoked act of aggression.

Russian forces attacked Ukrainian positions close to the Donetsk town of Sloviansk, but were forced by the military to withdraw. The Ukrainian military also stated that Russian forces launched a cruise missile strike on Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, from their border. The military did not provide details about the casualties or damage.

Serhiy Gaidai, Luhansk region governor, stated that Russian forces were gathering in the vicinity of Bilohorivka (about 50km (30 miles) east Sloviansk.

Russia is "shelling surrounding settlements and carrying out air strikes but it is still not able to quickly occupy all of Luhansk," he stated on Telegram.

Russia took control of all Luhansk's provinces last weekend.

Russia's defense ministry claimed that its forces destroyed two hangars in Donetsk near Kostyantynivka, where they had stored the M777 howitzers made by the United States. It said the guns were used to bombard Donetsk residents.

Russian news agencies reported that separatist officials said on Sunday that Ukraine's military was bombarding Donetsk with NATO-standard 155mm artillery. Two residents were also wounded.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the authenticity of battlefield accounts.

The Ukrainian military spokespeople weren't immediately available to comment.

According to Ukraine's military command, Ukrainian forces launched artillery and missiles at Russian positions in the south. This included ammunition depots in the Chornobaivka region.

Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister, warned the Kherson region civilians to evacuate immediately as Ukraine's Armed Forces were planning a counter-attack. She did not give a time frame.

She stated that she was certain that women and children should not be present in the area and that they should not act as human shields.

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