POKROSVK: Rescue workers combed through the rubble of damaged buildings in the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, the day after Russian strikes killed at least seven people.
\nPokrovsk sits just 50 kilometers from the eastern frontline, where Moscow says it is gaining ground and repelling Ukrainian attacks.
\nTwo missiles \u2014 launched 40 minutes apart \u2014 damaged residential buildings, a hotel, catering establishments, shops and administrative buildings on Monday, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk region\u2019s military administration said.
\nAFP correspondents on the ground saw rescuers evacuating survivors from the rubble of a five-story building, and carrying the wounded into ambulances.
\nSeven people died and 67 were wounded, including two children, according to Igor Klymenko, Ukraine\u2019s minister of internal affairs.
\nThose killed included a high-ranking emergency official of Donetsk region, Klymenko said.
\n\u201cWe are resuming the demolition of rubble,\u201d he said early Tuesday after the rescuers \u201cwere forced to suspend work for the night due to the high threat of repeated shelling.\u201d
\nPresident Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that Moscow had struck a residential building, and shared a video on social media of civilians helping wounded people and rescuers clearing rubble from a building that had lost its top floor.
\nThe footage also showed a second building that appeared heavily damaged.
\nThe city had a pre-war population of around 60,000 people.
\nAlso on Monday, Russia said it had recently advanced three kilometers toward Kupiansk in northeastern Ukraine around 150 kilometers north of Pokrovsk and a few dozen kilometers from the Russian border.
\nKupiansk and its surroundings in the Kharkiv region were retaken by Ukrainian forces in September, but Moscow has renewed its assault on the area.
\n\u201cOver the past three days, the advance of Russian troops… amounted to 11 kilometers along the front and more than three kilometers deep into the enemy\u2019s defense,\u201d Moscow\u2019s defense ministry said.
\nIt said that it had \u201cimproved\u201d its standing along the frontline and continued to repel Ukrainian counterattacks.
\nOn Saturday, Russia struck a blood transfusion center in Kruglyakivka \u2014 near Kupiansk \u2014 with a \u201cguided air bomb\u201d, killing at least two people and wounding four, Kyiv said.
\nTwo more people in Kruglyakivka died Monday when Russia attacked with \u201cfour guided aerial bombs\u201d, according to Oleg Synegubov, governor of the Kharkiv region.
\nIn mid-July, Ukraine said that it was in a \u201cdefensive position\u201d in the Kupiansk area as the Russian army launched an offensive there.
\nUkraine began its long-awaited counteroffensive in June but has made modest advances in the face of stiff resistance from Russian forces.
\nOn the diplomatic front, Ukraine said Monday it was \u201csatisfied\u201d after a peace summit held in Saudi Arabia, to which Moscow was not invited.
\nRepresentatives from around 40 countries including China, India, the United States and Ukraine took part in the weekend summit in Jeddah.
\nThe initiative was greeted with scorn by Moscow on Tuesday.
\n\u201cWe have become eyewitnesses of yet another unsuccessful attempt by the US administration to pass off their wishes for reality. There was no diplomatic success in Jeddah,\u201d said Russian ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, as quoted by state news agency RIA Novosti.
\nThe diplomat said it was pointless to discuss the crisis in Ukraine without Russia\u2019s participation.
\n\u201cDoes anyone still not understand that in such a situation it is impossible to achieve a specific result?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
POKROSVK: Rescue workers combed through the rubble of damaged buildings in the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, the day after Russian strikes killed at least seven people. Pokrovsk sits just 50 kilometers from the eastern frontline, where Moscow says it is gaining ground and repelling Ukrainian attacks. Two missiles \u2014 launched 40 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347906,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-347896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n