Russian forces march into eastern Ukraine

Ukrainian firefighters work to extinguish a fire at the site of a drone attack on industrial facilities in Kharkiv. Pic/AFP

The Ukrainian village of Ocheretyne has been battered to ruins by advancing Russian troops. The village, which had a population of 3,000 before the war, has been a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv's depleted ammunition-deprived forces have been fighting with Russia's artillery, drones and bombs. Ukraine's military has acknowledged that the Russians have gained a foothold in Ocheretyne, but say that fighting continues. Residents are fleeing the village.

Infrastructure has taken a big hit: houses, apartment blocks and other buildings look damaged beyond repair, and many houses have been pummelled into piles of wood and bricks. As per the footage, fires are burning in at least two buildings, as smoke bellowed from several houses.

In recent weeks, Russia has stepped up attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, in an attempt to pummell the region's energy infrastructure and terrorise its 1.3 million residents. Multiple fires have broken out in the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv following Russian missile and drone attacks overnight, authorities said on Saturday.

Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov took to Telegram and informed that Russian forces set ablaze a two-story civilian building, leaving four people wounded. According to the Ukrainian military, Russia launched 13 Shahed drones at the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions overnight, all of which were shot down by air defences.

Early on Saturday, Russia's defence minitry claimed that its forces shot down four US-provided long-range ATACMS, with a striking distance of 300 km missiles over the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The ministry did not provide further details about the attack. Last week, US officials confirmed that Ukraine has begun using the long sought after missiles provided secretly by the United States.

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