Russian attack kills at least 3 in east Ukraine

Kyiv, May 31 (EFE).- A rocket attack by Russian forces on the Sloviansk city in the eastern Donetsk region has killed at least three people and injured six, the regional governor said on Tuesday, amid a mounting offensive by Russia to control Donbas.

Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the rockets hit a local school building and at least seven skyscrapers in the city.

The exact number of victims would not be known until the ongoing rescue operations get over, Kyrylenko said.

“(The) strike is another crime committed by the Russian occupying forces on our land, and its victims are civilians,” said the governor.

He reiterated his call for civilians to flee as “there are no safe places in the Donetsk region.

“I urge you again: evacuate. Save your lives. (Russian President Valdimir) Putin is waging a war to exterminate Ukrainians,” he said.

On Monday, Kyrylenko alleged that the Russians hit 46 settlements in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, damaging 39 civilian properties, killing at least three people, and injuring seven.

The Russian forces continue their push in eastern Ukraine to seize Donetsk and Luhansk, known collectively as Donbas, which have been under the Moscow-backed separatist control for almost eight years.

The regions border Russia.

General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Ukrainian soldiers repulsed eight Russian attacks in Donetsk and Luhansk over the past day after Russian troops unsuccessfully conducted an artillery-supported assault on the Sloviansk front before retreating to their earlier positions. EFE rml-int/ssk