By Vladyslav Smilianets
POKROVSK, Ukraine (Reuters) -Russian missiles struck the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk twice on Monday night, killing nine people, wounding scores and destroying apartments and a popular hotel, officials said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that 82 people were wounded in the attack, and rescue operations in Pokrovsk, about 75 km (45 miles) southwest of Bakhmut in eastern Donetsk, had been completed.
“Everyone is provided with the necessary assistance. There are two children among the wounded,” Zelenskiy said in his evening address.
Separately, Russian-installed Donetsk Mayor Alexei Kulemzin accused Ukraine in a social media post of shelling the city of Donetsk, killing three people and wounding 10 on Tuesday.
In the Pokrovsk strikes, two missiles hit the centre of the city, which had a pre-war population of about 60,000, within 40 minutes of each other, witnesses said. Pictures posted online by officials showed that Druzhba (Friendship) Hotel suffered a direct hit, with several floors missing.
Residents said the hotel was popular with journalists, aid workers and the military. It was one of the few still operating in the eastern Donetsk region, close to the frontline.
Witnesses told a Reuters cameraman that two emergency workers were killed in the first strike, and the interior ministry said 29 police officers and seven rescuers were injured in the second strike.
Kateryna, 58, was at home when she heard the first blast. Then the second blast hit her building.
“A flame filled up my eyes. I fell down on the floor, on the ground. My eyes (hurt) a lot,” she said, pointing to multiple scratches around her eyes and bandages on her forehead.
Another resident, 75-year-old Lidia, said she was on the phone when the second blast hit. “The window fell on me,” she said from her sofa. “My back has cuts. I just got back from the hospital… My knee and my thigh have cuts.”
(Reporting by Vladyslav Smilianets in Pokrovsk, writing by Olena Harmash, editing by Nick Macfie and Cynthia Osterman)
