KYIV, Aug 20 (Reuters) – At least three people were killed in a Russian artillery attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka, local officials said on Wednesday, as Moscow’s troops advance to encircle the strategic hub in Ukraine’s industrialised Donbas region.
Another four people were wounded in the attack, which Governor Vadym Filashkin said involved eight strikes from a multiple rocket launch system and targeted a local market.
He called on residents to evacuate the city, which has come increasingly under attack as Russian forces close in from three sides.
On Tuesday alone, Filashkin added, Russian forces dropped 10 guided bombs on Kostiantynivka, which has long served as a crucial logistics hub for Ukrainian troops defending a key swath of the front line.
“The Russians are deliberately striking to kill and maim as many civilians as possible,” he said in a statement.
Russia has denied targeting civilians, but thousands have been killed since its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Russian forces are pressing forward in a grinding offensive across much of the Donbas. The Kremlin has reportedly proposed Ukrainian troops withdraw from the region as part of a peace agreement, which Kyiv has flatly rejected.
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