Officials reported that at least seven people were killed when Russian rockets struck residential structures in Pokrovsk, a city in eastern Ukraine. The second rocket struck the city as rescue workers looked for the first missile’s victims. Numerous people, including law enforcement and rescue personnel, suffered injuries. Among the more than 30 injured civilians were two youngsters.

Pokrovsk is about 70 kilometers (43 miles) northwest of the city of Donetsk, which is occupied by Russian troops. Before the war, the city’s population was approximately 60,000.

The head of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Krylenko, said five civilians were killed in the first attack and one rescue worker was killed in the second. A soldier also died.

The “destroyed and damaged” buildings were “high-rise buildings, private residences, administrative buildings, dining establishments and hotels,” he added.

“Russia is a terrorist state. Its crimes must be punished!” he added in a post on Telegram.

According to other Ukrainian officials, the second rocket landed 40 minutes after the first, leading rescuers to search for survivors among the rubble of what Zelensky described as an “ordinary apartment building”.

He posted video of a five-story building with the top floor destroyed.

Amid the general chaos and confusion, civilians could be seen clearing the debris and rescue workers were helping people in ambulances.

The day after the attack, Russia claimed its forces had also attacked a Ukrainian military command post in Pokrovsk. Ukraine has not commented on Tuesday’s reported attack.

Katerina, a local resident who was injured in the first attack, told Reuters she was at home when the missile hit.

“The flames filled my eyes. I fell to the ground, my eye (sores) and everything else was fine except for the shrapnel in my neck.”

At least two civilians were killed when a Russian-guided bomb hit a “private house” in the Kharkiv region on Monday night, the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration Andrei Yermak said.