This Tuesday, August 8, the Ukrainian authorities denounced that during the night two Russian missiles hit residential buildings in the city of Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region. The ramming leaves at least 8 people dead and 88 injured. The emergency teams are concentrating on the rescue work, while the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, accuses Moscow of trying to “reduce the Donetsk region to stones and rubble.”
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Two Russian missiles, which hit within minutes of each other, surprised dozens of residents. Ukrainian authorities confirmed that at least eight people were killed and 88 injured.
The assault hit a group of buildings in the city of Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region, east of the invaded country.
“We must stop Russian terror. All those who fight for the freedom of Ukraine save human lives. All those who help Ukraine in the world will defeat the terrorists together with us. Russia will answer for everything it has done in this horrible war “Zelensky said in a message on the X platform, known until recently as Twitter.
The city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region. Donbas, from which Russia is trying to leave only broken and scorched stones. Two missile strikes. An ordinary residential building was hit. Unfortunately, there are victims. Rescuers and all necessary services are on the scene. The rescue of… pic.twitter.com/zsIA7dR6HR
— Volodimir Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) August 7, 2023
Many of the dead and injured are emergency service workers. This is how the “double tap” strategy is known, used repeatedly by Russia: members of the emergency teams who attend to those injured in the first explosion have a high probability of dying or being injured in a second detonation.
In fact, the second attack ended the life of Andriy Omelchenko, a senior official in the Emergency Services of Ukraine.
“We are resuming the cleaning of the rubble. At night, we were forced to suspend the work due to the great threat of repeated shelling,” said Ihor Klymenk, Ukraine’s Interior Minister, through social networks.
Russia denies attack on civilians and claims it targeted a military post
In the last hours, the Kremlin maintained that the objective of its attacks was a military post in the Pokrovsk area.
Kateryna was one of the victims of the bombing. She was at her house when she heard the first explosion. A relative called to see if she had been hurt, she said she was fine. But with the second she was not so lucky: the impact fell directly on her building.
“I heard bang and that’s it. A flame blinded my sight. I fell to the ground. My eyes hurt a lot,” Kateryna told Reuters, referring to multiple eye injuries.
According to regional authorities, Russian attacks have claimed the lives of more than 1,640 Donestk residents and injured more than 3,930 since the war began on February 24, 2022.
The 2001 census, the last published by the Ukrainian government authorities, indicated that Pokrovsk has 75,000 inhabitants. At the time, 60% of its residents identified as Russian-speaking and 22% as ethnically Russian.
With Reuters, EFE and local media
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