Five dead, dozens wounded in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region as Russia claims new gains

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Five civilians were killed and 15 others wounded in Russian attacks in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region on Saturday and overnight, the governor said, as Moscow claimed further progress in a months-long offensive in the country’s war-torn industrial heartland.

Shortly after Donetsk Governor Vadym Filashkin reported the number of casualties on Sunday, other Ukrainian officials said Russian shelling had caused more civilian casualties in the east and south.

At least eight people were wounded after Moscow forces attacked the eastern Ukrainian city of Nikopol on Sunday, local Governor Serhii Lysak said the same day. Lysak said a toddler and a 10-year-old girl were among the victims, six of whom were hospitalized.

Russian shelling also wounded eight civilians, including a 10-year-old child and two teenagers, in a village in Ukraine’s southern Kherson province on Sunday, local official Roman Mrochko said.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, sending millions of people fleeing to neighboring countries. Taking over all of Donetsk is one of the Kremlin’s main war goals.

In the Donetsk region, Russian forces continued to make gains as they pushed west toward the towns of Pokrovsk and Kurakhove. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that its forces had taken control of two neighboring villages about 30 kilometers (19 miles) east of Pokrovsk, Prohres and Yevhenivka. The day before, Moscow claimed the nearby village of Lozuvatske, one of nearly a dozen it says it has captured in the province this month.

Earlier on Sunday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said seven Ukrainian drones had been shot down over Russian territory overnight, while a regional official said a drone strike had caused a fire at an oil depot in southern Russia. Firefighters were working early Sunday morning to extinguish the blaze after three fuel tanks went up in flames in the Kursk region, acting regional governor Alexey Smirnov said. Smirnov said no one was injured.