At least 11 people, including five childrꦿen, have been killed by a Russian missile strike on the eastern Ukraine town of Pokrovsk.
On Saturday, the regional governor said fresh assault has been made by Russꦛia, as the bombardments intensify, reported AFP.
Since late December, there has been an increase in the number of strikes in both Ukraine and Russia, with pღarticular⛎ly heavy casualties, as the war triggered by Russia's invasion in February 2022 nears the end of its second year.
Despite the intensification, the 🥃front line has barely sไhifted.
Eight people were also wounded when Russian forces hit the area wit♑h S-300 missiles, the report said.
"The main blow was dealt to Pokrovsk and Rivne in the community of Myrnograd," AFP quoted the head of the Donetsk region, Vadim Filashkin a🎀s saying.
ꦡHe released pౠhotographs showing rescue workers working through the debris of the attack which damaged six houses in Pokrovsk and another in nearby Rivne, it said.
According to the emergency services the toll could rise with six people, including two children, believed to 🍒be under the rubble of one of the buildings, the report said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the attacks saying "the 🔯Russians just hit ordinary residওential buildings, private houses", it mentioned.
He assured that no Russian strike "will go without ♕consequence", it said.
The town of Pokrovsk, which had a population of 60,0♛00 before the war, had already been hit by a deadly bombardment last August, which left nine people dead and 82 injured, the report mentionedꦡ.
The town is around fifty kilometres (30 mi🦄les) from the front line of the fighting.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, one adꦗult and two children were injured in shelling in the Kherson region in the south, it said.
One person was killed in Toretsk, near Bakhmut, and♑ another was kill✅ed and two injured in Nikopol, in the east, according to the respective regional authorities, it added.
Escalation of strikes:
In the Russian-occupied territories of eastern Ukraine, two people were killed by Uk꧅rainian shelling in Makiivka and Gorlovka, an attack that also left several people injured, according to the local authorities installed by Moscow, it said.
Russia on Saturday also said its forces had shot down four Ukrainian missiles over Moscow-annexed ♚Crimea overnight, it stated.
The attack came a day after Russia said it repelled a Ukrainian dron🌃e attac🌞k on Crimea, downing 36 of them over the peninsula, it added.
Kyiv said it ha🐻d hit the Saki airbase in western Crimea, it said.
Ukraine has targeted Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, since the sta🥂rt of Moscow's full-scale offensive, it added.
Russia also said that it had destroyed six Ukrainian Neptune naval missiles over the Black Sea, it addeౠd.
The number of strikes on both sides has multiplied in recent days, with Russia in particular bombing Ukrainian towns en masse on two occasions: on December 29, when 55 people were killed, and on Wednesday when six died, ಞit mentioned.
For its part, Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the Russian town of Belgorod, 50 kilometres from t💖he border, including an unprecedented attack last Saturday tha💞t killed 25 people, it said.
Hundreds were also injured in these atཧtacks, it stated.
