Russian shelling massacres residents

KYIV: A Russian missile has struck an apartment building in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 15 people as Putin’s forces seek to consolidate their control over the Donbas region.

“During the rescue operation, 15 bodies were found at the scene and five people were pulled out of the rubble” alive in the town of Chasiv Yar, the local emergency service declared on Facebook.

“At least 30 others are under the rubble” of the fourstorey building after it was hit by a Russian Uragan missile, Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said earlier on Telegram.

The building was partially destroyed in the strike.

Rescuers had so far been able to establish contact with three people under the rubble, emergency services said.

Having fought long battles to capture the last areas of the neighbouring region of Luhansk, Russian troops are now turning their focus to Donetsk as they look to take control of the whole Donbas region.

Hours earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured) had condemned what he said was Russia’s deliberate shelling of civilians.

He condemned the widespread Russian bombardments in an address Saturday night.

“In just one day, Russia hit Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih, the communities of the Zaporizhzhia region,” Mr Zelensky said.

Russian strikes “absolutely deliberately” and “purposefully” targeted the residential sector, hitting “ordinary houses, civilian people”, he said.

“Such terrorist actions can really only be stopped with weapons, modern and powerful,” Mr Zelensky added, thanking the US for its latest military aid package.

Washington has signed off on a new $US400m ($586m) military aid package, including four additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems to add to eight already in place and high-precision artillery ammunition not previously sent to Ukraine.