Both Ukrainian officials and the Russian Defense Ministry have reported extensive military action in the east of Ukraine over the past 24 hours.
The head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, Pavlo Kirilenko, said Russian missile strikes against the city of Kramatorsk had destroyed at least eight residential buildings and educational and infrastructure facilities.
“The artillery shelling along the entire front line did not stop all night. The enemy fired most intensely in the Marinka, Avdeevka and Ochreten directions,” Kirilenko said.
All three cities have been subjected to widespread bombing in recent weeks, but remain under Ukrainian control.
“So far there have been no civilian casualties, but several houses have been damaged and electricity and gas supplies have been disrupted,” Kirilenko said.
In neighboring Luhansk, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said on Sunday, the Russian military “launched mortars, artillery and several rocket launchers in Severodonetsk, Rubizan, Kreminna, Lisichansk, Popsna, Hirske and Zolot.”
It said, ‘The enemy is deliberately targeting multi-storey and private houses.
“Due to the shelling, 29 settlements do not have electricity, 38 settlements do not have gas supply … Rubizn, Popasna do not have water supply.”
These towns and cities form a cluster of urban settlements that have been the Ukrainian front line for several weeks and have suffered extensive damage. Ukrainian officials estimate that 70% of Severodnetsk has been destroyed.
Despite the fighting, some evacuations continue.
Serhi Haidai, head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, said that 67 residents were rescued from Severodnetsk, Rubizne, Popsna, Lisichansk and Hirske.
“The security situation changes hourly,” Haidai said. Where it was safe this morning, the Russians are now firing shells.
For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday that the Russian military had launched precision air-launched missiles around Ukraine, which it claimed destroyed 16 Ukrainian military installations overnight. Had given. have make.
The statement claimed that Russian missiles struck five Ukrainian command posts, a fuel storage facility, three ammunition depots, and personnel and military equipment. Most of the targets were in or around the Donbass.
CNN could not immediately confirm those claims.
Authorities in the Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhya, bordering Donetsk, say regional defense brigades are “fighting across the entire length of the front line.”
Colonel Ivan Arefeyev, a spokesman for the Zaporizhzhya Regional Military Administration, said Russian shelling affected several villages inside the Donetsk region, including Stromoyorsk and Makarivka. He added that several settlements inside the Zaporizhzhya region have also been affected.
“Russian troops are using tanks, armored personnel carriers and infantry. In addition, they attacked area settlements with aviation, GRAD multiple rocket launchers, small arms artillery, 120-mm mortars and large-caliber machine guns,” Arefayev said. “Aviation, multiple rocket launchers, artillery, mortars , retaliation was underway with the support of armored personnel carriers”.
According to a CNN analysis of the battlefields, reportedly most of the affected villages inside Zaporizhzhya had not been previously targeted.