Russian shelling in battle-scarred east Ukraine on Monday left six dead, Kyiv said, as the country was reeling from President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to sack two senior law enforcement officials.
EU foreign ministers were convening meanwhile to discuss toughening sanctions against Moscow and the bloc’s foreign policy chief warned of the “life and death” consequences of Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea grain exports.
Rescue workers in blue helmets could be seen digging through debris and clearing rubble from the collapsed remains of a two-storey building in Toretsk in the industrial east that was struck by Russian artillery early Monday.
“Rescuers found and recovered the bodies of five dead people in total. Three people were rescued from the rubble and one of them died in hospital,” the emergency services said, adding their rescue operations had concluded.
Toretsk, a town with of around 30,000 residents lies some 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Kramatorsk, a key target for Russian forces that were ordered into Ukraine in February.
They initially failed to capture the capital Kyiv early in the invasion but have made gains in the eastern region of Donbas recently, capturing the sister cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk.
Zelensky said late Sunday that he was firing Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and security chief Ivan Bakanov amid widespread cases of suspected treason by law enforcement officials.
He cited “a great number of crimes against the foundations of national security and the connections established between Ukrainian law enforcement officials and Russian special services,” making the announcement.
