Russian missiles fall on Ukraine cities as death toll mounts

In Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region, four soldiers and a civilian were killed on Saturday when a Russian bombardment hit a high school.

An elderly man walks in front of a destroyed school in Kharkiv. Picture: AFP

In Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region, four soldiers and a civilian were killed on Saturday when a Russian bombardment hit a high school in the town of Bervenkove.

Russia’s defence ministry reported a battle for control of two villages near the eastern separatist stronghold of Donetsk and also claimed a missile strike had destroyed an arms and ammunition depot in the Zhytomyr region, west of Kyiv.

In Kharkiv, officials reported 44 artillery strikes and 140 rocket assaults in a single day.

Russian forces have taken control of Slavutych, the town where workers at the Chernobyl nuclear plant live, briefly detaining the mayor, regional Ukrainian authorities said.

Air-raid sirens sounded early Sunday in Kyiv and several other cities.

Ukraine’s defence ministry said its forces had recaptured Trostianets, a town near the Russian border that was one of the first to fall to Russia.

AFP