6 killed, 5 injured in Russian airstrike in Ukraine’s Donetsk region

DONETSK, Ukraine

At least six people were killed and five others injured by a Russian airstrike in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, officials said Sunday, adding that numerous people are still buried beneath the rubble of a building that collapsed in the barrage. 

Five injured people and six bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a five-story building in the city of Chasiv Yar, according to local daily Ukrinform, citing a statement by Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration. He said the search for people trapped under the rubble is ongoing.

Four Russian-launched missiles struck the Pivdenny settlement in southern Chasiv Yar, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Donetsk front line.

The attack took place around 9.17 p.m. local time (1817GMT) on Saturday, according to Oleg Kirnitskiy of the Donetsk Region Police Press Center. Kirnitskiy said search and rescue operations are still underway in the wreckage of houses on Yujnaya Street.

“Two people tried to call out from under the rubble in the morning,” he said, adding that there are 35 people under the rubble, including at least one child.

They believe four Uragan-type rockets were used in the attack, which is prohibited in civilian areas, he added.

Donetsk and Luhansk – both part of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, bordering Russia – have been the scene of a Russian-backed insurgency since 2014, when Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.

Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the “independence” of Donetsk and Luhansk just before the start of the Ukrainian war on Feb. 24.

Like Crimea, all of Donbas remains internationally recognized as Ukrainian territory, and the country’s armed forces continue to fight for it.

Nearly 4,900 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the beginning of the war on Feb. 24, according to UN figures.

Over 15 million people have been forced to flee their homes, including more than 8.4 million that have fled to other countries. 

* Writing by Gozde Bayar

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