Russian rocket hits an apartment building in Ukraine, injuring nine civilians

Emergency vehicles surrounded the damaged building Photo: Ukrainian Patrol Police/Reuters

Mr Filatov said the apartment building, which there was a hit by a Russian rocket was almost empty, as the apartments were sold.

Thick black smoke and fire poured from the former building of the SBU, and debris and damaged cars stood along the streets.

< p>“Another Russian missile terror,” Zelenskiy said.

Russian officials said they fired at a legitimate military target in retaliation for an alleged Ukrainian missile strike earlier that day on the port of Taganrog near Rostov.

This was the first alleged missile attack on Russian territory since the beginning of the war.

The Russian offensive on the Dnieper came at a time when Ukrainian forces continued to push south, which Ukrainian officials say is the main thrust of their counteroffensive.

On Saturday, Russian bloggers acknowledged that their country's troops had retreated from Staromayorsky. , a village about 10 km south of the front line on the border of Zaporozhye and Donetsk regions.

Map of Ukraine Urozhayne

“The Russian servicemen withdrew from Staromayorskoe to previously prepared positions. Russian troops are constantly inflicting artillery strikes on the enemy in the village, preventing him from moving south,” the influential pro-war account on the Rybar social network told its 1.2 million subscribers.

This was confirmed by the British. The Ministry of Defense, which said that Ukrainian forces «captured the village of Staromayorske» and defeated the elite Russian airborne troops.

Some Western officials criticized Ukraine for the slow pace of its counter-offensive, launched seven weeks ago using Western equipment and NATO-trained forces, but Ukrainian officials have now said they were simply intelligence operations.

On Saturday, Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov taunted Russia in an interview. » Take back Crimea.

Ukrainian intelligence officials also claimed responsibility for the bombing of a Russian ammunition depot in Sevastopol, the largest city on the occupied peninsula, on Friday night.

The Kremlin annexed Crimea in 2014, and Vladimir Putin vowed to defend it at all costs.