Seven people have been killed and nine injured in a Ukrainian missile strike on a Russian-occupied region of Kherson in southern Ukraine, according to reports.
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Local media reported, citing Russian authorities, that seven civilians were killed and nine were injured, in the village of Chaplynka, which is located 50km behind the front line.
Images shared online showed the local labour office building had largely been destroyed.
The Russian senator for Kherson region Konstantin Basyuk wrote on his Telegram channel that seven people had been killed and seven others were wounded in the missile attack.
The reports said Ukraine fired six rockets, four of which were intercepted.
The information could not be independently verified.
The village, home to nearly 10,000 people, was occupied immediately after the start of the Russian full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Earlier on Friday, Ukrainian military officials said the eastern industrial city of Avdiivka remains under threat of complete encirclement by Russian troops after more than three weeks of heavy fighting.
Almost a dozen fresh Russian attacks around the city had been repelled by Ukrainian forces, according to the General Staff.
These included unsuccessful ground assaults backed by air support near the village of Stepove northwest of the city and the villages of Tonenke, Sieverne and Pervomayske west of Avdiivka.
However, Ukrainian journalist Yuri Butusov, who is well connected within the military, contradicted the official account on the Telegram platform.
According to Butusov, Russian units successfully advanced over a railway embankment in the direction of Stepove and established positions there.
This poses an acute threat to the giant coking plant located nearby.
The site has been a focus of Russian attacks as its capture could open the way into Avdiivka.
At the same time, Russian troops had also advanced southwest of the city, the journalist wrote.
In particular, Butusov criticised an alleged lack of defensive positions in the rear area.
Instead of being photographed in Avdiivka, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy should have been more concerned with improving the city's defences, he wrote.
Zelenskiy visited the frontline town in mid-April 2023.
The heavily damaged city of Avdiivka is currently surrounded by Russian troops on three sides.
The Russian-controlled regional capital of Donetsk is located just a few kilometres south of Avdiivka.
Meanwhile, Zelenskiy on Friday confirmed an attack overnight by almost 40 Russian combat drones in 10 regions of the country.
Ukrainian forces downed more than half of the Shahed "kamikaze" drones, which can carry up to 40kg of explosives, Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.
"Unfortunately, there were also impacts. According to preliminary data, without casualties," he added, pledging to beef up the country's air defences.
"We are aware that as winter approaches, the Russian terrorists will try to do more damage. We will respond to the enemy. Powerfully!" Zelensky wrote.
The impacts occurred in three regions - Kharkiv in the east and Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk in the west.
with Reuters
Australian Associated Press
