Seventy Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in a Russian missile attack in the region of Sumy in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian parliament confirmed on Tuesday.
It said on Twitter that an army unit was fired upon in the town of Okhtyrka, located between the capital Kiev and Kharkiv.
Russian forces were currently fighting to take control of both those cities, along with other key territories across the country.
The deaths in Okhtyrka was announced by Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, head of Sumy’s regional administration, who shared pictures on his Telegram channel of a burnt-out four-storey building and rescue workers in action.
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its sixth day, concerns were growing about the number of civilian casualties in the conflict, including in Kharkiv, which had come under intense attack in recent days.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry published a video on Twitter on Tuesday, showing a missile attack that struck Freedom Square in central Kharkiv.
Cars could be seen driving outside the administrative building before it was hit by a powerful explosion.
“Russia is waging war in violation of international humanitarian law.
“Kills civilians, destroys civilian infrastructure,” the ministry wrote.
Russia’s main target is large cities that now fired at by its missiles.”
Russia had rejected the allegations, which could not be independently verified.
Russian troops continued their advance on the country’s second-largest city into the early hours of Tuesday.
According to Ukrainian sources, 11 people were killed and dozens injured in attacks on Kharkiv over the course of Monday, while 87 residential buildings were destroyed.
The United Nations estimates that more than 100 civilians died during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s government puts the civilian toll at more than 150.
As fighting continued in Kharkiv, satellite imagery showed a convoy of Russian military vehicles estimated to be 64 kilometres long heading toward Kiev, Ukrainian news agency UNIAN reported.
The Ukrainian army claimed to have shot down five Russian fighter planes and a helicopter during aerial attacks in the area surrounding Kiev on Monday.
The planes were reportedly shot down during aerial attacks on the cities of Vasylkiv and Brovary and a cruise missile and a helicopter were shot down near the capital, the Ukrayinska Pravda newspaper and the Ukrainian air force reported.
Ukrainian warplanes reportedly fired missiles and bombs at Russian tanks and troops near Kiev and close to the city of Zhytomyr.
Bombs were reportedly dropped in the northern region of Chernihiv and the southern Ukrainian city of Berdyansk, which is currently under Russian control.
