Pokrosvik: The day after Russian airstrikes in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk claimed at least seven lives, rescuers combed through the wreckage of destroyed buildings on Tuesday.

The eastern frontline, where Moscow claims it is gaining ground and fending off Ukrainian attacks, is only 50 kilometres from Pokrovsk. According to Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the military administration for the Donetsk region, two missiles fired 40 minutes apart on Monday damaged homes, a hotel, restaurants, cafes, shops, and administrative structures.

Rescuers were seen pulling survivors from a five-story building's rubble and loading the injured into ambulances, according to AFP correspondents on the scene.

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According to Igor Klymenko, Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, there were seven fatalities and 67 injuries, including two children.

According to Klymenko, those killed included a senior emergency official from the Donetsk region.

He announced early on Tuesday that "we are resuming the demolition of rubble," adding that the rescuers "were forced to suspend work for the night due to the high threat of repeated shelling."

President Volodymyr Zelensky reported on Monday that a residential building in Moscow had been hit. He also posted a video to social media showing bystanders tending to the injured and rescue workers clearing debris from a building that had lost its top floor.

The video also showed what appeared to be a second, severely damaged building. Pre-war estimates put the city's population at 60,000.

Also on Monday, Russia declared that it had recently moved three kilometres closer to Kupiansk in northeastern Ukraine, which is a few dozen kilometres from the Russian border and 150 kilometres north of Pokrovsk.

In the Kharkiv region, Kupiansk and its surroundings were retaken by Ukrainian forces in September, but Moscow has redoubled its attack there.

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Russian troops have advanced 11 kilometres along the front and more than three kilometres into the enemy's defence over the last three days, according to Moscow's defence ministry.

It claimed to have "improved" its position along the frontline and had been successfully fending off Ukrainian counterattacks.

At least two people were killed and four others were injured on Saturday when Russia used a "guided air bomb" to attack a blood transfusion facility in Kruglyakivka, close to Kupiansk.

According to Oleg Synegubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, Monday's Russian attack on Kruglyakivka with "four guided aerial bombs" resulted in the deaths of two more people.

Ukraine claimed to be in a "defensive position" in the Kupiansk region in the middle of July as the Russian army there began an offensive.
In spite of stiff opposition from Russian forces, Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive started in June with only modest gains.

Ukraine declared Monday that it was "satisfied" with the outcome of a peace summit held in Saudi Arabia but to which Moscow was not invited.

The weekend summit in Jeddah drew participants from about 40 nations, including China, India, the United States, and Ukraine.

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On Tuesday, Moscow scornfully rejected the initiative.

"We have now seen firsthand yet another failed attempt by the US administration to present its desires as reality. The Russian ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, was quoted by the official news agency RIA Novosti as saying, "There was no diplomatic success in Jeddah.

Without Russia's participation, the diplomat claimed, it was pointless to discuss the Ukrainian crisis. Is it still unclear to anyone that it is impossible to accomplish a particular goal in such circumstances? said he.