Ukrainian soldiers drive a tank down a road in Stupotsky, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, July 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Dozens of Ukrainian emergency workers worked Sunday to pull people out of the rubble after a Russian rocket attack hit apartment buildings in eastern Ukraine. The strike killed at least 15 people and many are believed to be still trapped a day later. The strike late Saturday night destroyed three buildings in a residential area of the city of Chasiv Yar, mostly inhabited by people working in nearby factories. Ukraine’s Emergency Services said on Sunday that they have rescued five people from the rubble so far and have contacted three others who remain alive under the rubble. Another man was pulled alive from the rubble on Sunday night. Cranes and excavators worked alongside rescue teams to remove the rubble of a building, the sides of which had been completely severed by the impact of the impact. Rescuers continued to work in the rain despite the dangerous conditions. The thud of artillery on the nearby front line echoed just a few miles away, causing some workers to flinch and others to run for cover when it got too close. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region that includes Chasiv Yar, said the city of about 12,000 people was hit by Uragan rockets, which are launched from truck-based systems. Chasiv Yar is 20 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Kramatorsk, a city that is a key target for Russian forces as they grind westward. Residents told The Associated Press that they heard at least three explosions and that, in addition to the deaths, many people were seriously injured in the explosions. A group of neighbors sat in the yard quietly discussing who was injured and who was missing. “There was an explosion, all the windows blew out and I was thrown to the ground. I called my kids to tell them I’m alive. My kitchen walls and balcony are completely gone,” said one resident, 45-year-old Oksana, who did not want to give her last name. She was trying to hold back her tears as she spoke. She was in her third floor apartment when the rockets hit. “We didn’t hear any incoming sound, we just felt the impact. I ran to hide in the hallway with my dogs. Everyone I knew started calling me to find out what had happened. I was shaking like a leaf,” said Irina Shulimova, a 59-year-old retiree. Front doors and balconies were torn from the blast, piles of twisted metal and bricks lay on the ground, and crushed summer cherries lay between broken windowpanes. A 30-year-old technology worker named Oleksandr said his mother was among those injured in the blast. “Thank God I wasn’t hurt, it was a miracle,” he said, touching the cross around his neck. Although the house he shares with his mother is now torn down, he says he has no plans to leave the neighborhood. “I have enough money to support myself for another month. Many people are already tired of refugees coming from the east – no one will feed us or support us there. It’s better to stay,” said Oleksandr, who declined to give his last name. Dima, another resident, had lived for more than 20 years on the ground floor of one of the buildings vacated in the attack. He was pacing back and forth in the ruins. “As you can see, my house is gone,” he said. Twenty-one people were killed earlier this month when an apartment building and a recreation area were hit by rockets in the southern Odesa region. In addition, at least 19 people were killed when a Russian missile hit a shopping center in the city of Kremenchuk in late June. Russia has repeatedly claimed that in war it strikes only targets of military value. There was no comment on Chasiv Yar at a Russian Defense Ministry briefing on Sunday. Donetsk region is one of two provinces along with Luhansk that make up the Donbas region, where separatist rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014. Last week, Russia captured the city of Lysychansk, the last major stronghold of the Ukrainian resistance in Luhansk. Russian forces are raising “real hell” in the Donbass, despite estimates that they have taken an operational pause, Luhansk Governor Serhi Haidai said on Saturday. After the capture of Lysychansk, some analysts predicted that Moscow’s troops would likely need some time to rearm and regroup. But “so far no operational pause has been announced by the enemy. It is still attacking and bombing our territories with the same intensity as before,” Haidai said. He later said that Ukrainian forces destroyed some ammunition depots and barracks used by the Russians.
