Nine people were killed and nine others wounded on Monday in a Russian bombardment of a television tower near the city of Rivne.in western Ukraine, local authorities announced.

“At 4:00 p.m. GMT, we can declare that there are 9 dead and 9 wounded”told the press Vitaly Kovalthe person in charge of the local administration, specifying that “two missiles” had hit the television tower in the town of Antopil, 15 km east of Rivne, and in an adjoining administrative building.

“There are still people under the rubble”he said in an online post, adding that work was underway to free the survivors.

Koval told a briefing that two rockets hit the building early Monday morning reported the news agency Interfax-Ukraine.

Another nine were injured during the attack that occurred near the city of Rivne, in the west of the country (@Militarylandnet)

He posted photos of firefighters using cranes to lift sections of shattered concrete and brick walls and carrying a stretcher.

Rivne is located about 200 kilo meters northeast of Lviv, a city near the Polish border which has become the exit point for many Ukrainians fleeing the country.

Russia and Ukraine held new talks on Monday in an effort to end Moscow’s devastating war, despite deadly attacks on the Ukrainian TV tower, the capital and a pro-Moscow breakaway region.

On the 19th day of the invasion, the fourth round of talks made no progress other than a planned resumption on Tuesday, as Russian-backed separatists said fragments from a downed Ukrainian Tochka-U missile ripped through central Donetsk, killing 23 people.

Koval told a briefing that two rockets hit the building early Monday morning

Koval told a briefing that two rockets hit the building early Monday morning (@Militarylandnet)

Moscow called it a “war crime” and the rebels published photos of bloodied corpses lying in the street, even when the Ukrainian army denied firing a missile at Donetsk.

The United Nations estimates that nearly 2.8 million people have fled Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the ground and air assault on a large scale on February 24, most of them to Poland, which is struggling to accommodate arrivals.

As the Moscow army steadily advanced towards various major urban centers, Russian airstrikes have killed at least two in Kiev, now hemmed in on two sides and drained of more than half of its three million people.

“They say that he has too serious burns, that I will not recognize him”, sobbed Lidiya Tikhovska, 83, looking at the spot where a paramedic said her son Vitaliy’s remains lay.

“I wish Russia the same pain I feel now,” she said, tears rolling down her cheeks as she clung to her grandson’s elbow for support.

During his meeting with Russian representatives, Ukraine he said he demanded “peace, an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops.” The videoconference talks stopped without progress before they were scheduled to resume on Tuesday.

Russian troops not only closed in on Kiev but held the siege of the southern port city of Mariupol.where authorities said nearly 2,200 people have died.

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