Pokrovsk: Seven dead and 67 injured after Russian missiles hit eastern Ukrainian city

A wounded person is carried after Russian missile strikes hit a building in Pokrovsk. Credit: Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP

The death toll from Russian missile strikes that hit apartment blocks and other buildings in Ukraine has climbed to seven, with 67 injured.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs announced the updated numbers on Tuesday after two missiles slammed into the downtown area of Pokrovsk, in the eastern Donetsk region that is partically occupied by Russia, the evening before.

The missiles, which hit within 40 minutes of each other, damaged nine and five-story buildings, houses, a hotel, restaurants, shops and administrative buildings, Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

Russia accuses Ukraine of 'using 9/11 tactics' in alleged Moscow drone attack
The death toll in the attack has risen to 7. Credit: AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Moscow of trying to leave nothing but “broken and scorched stones” in eastern Ukraine.

His remarks accompanied footage of a damaged, five-story residential building with one floor partially destroyed.

Russian missiles, drones and artillery have repeatedly struck civilian areas in the war.

The Kremlin says its forces target only military assets and claim other damage is caused by debris from Ukrainian air defence weapons.

Neither side's claims can be independently verified.

Meanwhile, an overnight attack on the town of Kruhliakivka, in the Kharkiv region, killed two people and injured nine others, officials also said.

The deadly attack came just two days after officials from around 40 countries gathered in Saudi Arabia to find a peaceful settlement for the war in Ukraine.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Monday denounced the two-day talks in Jeddah as not having "the slightest added value" because Moscow wasn’t invited while Ukraine was.

A statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry repeated previous assurances that Moscow is open to a diplomatic solution on its terms that would end the 17-month-old war, and that it is ready to respond to serious proposals.

The Kremlin’s demands include Kyiv recognizing its annexation of four Ukrainian regions, which Russian forces at this point only partially control, and Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014.

Ukraine has outright refused to consider any of these demands and says it won't consider talks until Russia withdraws from its territory.

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