At least four people were killed and dozens of others wounded in Russian attacks across Ukraine on September 8, as Kyiv claimed "partial success" near the battle-scarred city of Bakhmut.
Missile strikes targeted President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s hometown of Kryviy Rih in central Ukraine, killing a police officer and wounding dozens, according to emergency officials.
Three people pulled from the rubble were in serious condition, said Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. Ten buildings were damaged in the attack on Kryviy Rih, he added.
Klymenko said later on Telegram that the number of wounded had risen to 73, including nine policemen.
Meanwhile, a Russian bomb attack killed at least three people in the village of Odradokamyanka in the southern Kherson region, Klymenko said.
Russian forces also launched rocket attacks on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya and Sumy regions earlier in the day.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL's Ukraine Live Briefing gives you the latest developments on Russia's invasion, Western military aid, the plight of civilians, and territorial control maps. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
"In the morning, the enemy fired several rockets, targeting civilian infrastructure in the capital of the [Zaporizhzhya] region. All emergency services are now on the site," Yuriy Malashko, the head of the regional military administration, wrote on Telegram.
Malashko said at least one local resident was wounded in the attack on the city of Zaporizhzhya.
Acting Mayor Anatoly Kurtev said 42 high-rise buildings were damaged in the attack.
"Windows were broken in the apartments and entrances of the affected houses," he said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties from Sumy, where shelling destroyed a private house, according to the provincial military administration.
The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces reported early on September 8 that its forces repelled Russian attacks on several towns and villages in the country’s east and south, including the Donetsk settlements of Lyman, Bakhmut, and Shakhtarsk.
The military claimed “partial success” by Ukrainian forces in the south of Bakhmut, where troops “pushed the enemy out and reinforced their own positions.”
The General Staff also said Ukrainian troops were making gradual progress in their southward advance toward the Sea of Azov.
Klishchiyivka, a town south of Bakhmut, has been destroyed as a result of the fighting, Oleh Kalashnikov, press officer for the 26th Artillery Brigade, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
"Klishchiyivka itself today is a rather sad picture. This is a village that was constantly under fire from Russian troops, that is, battles were directly fought there, and targets were also hit by artillery. We can say that Klishchiyivka is another settlement that was very, very badly destroyed," Kalashnikov said.
The town's infrastructure and private houses are unfit for life, he added, saying the restoration will require a lot of time and money.
Ukrainian forces control about half of Klishchiyivka, the deputy commander of the 3rd Assault Brigade, Maksym Zhorin, told RFE/RL earlier on September 8.
Your browser doesn’t support HTML5
'They Don't Care Where They Hit': Ukrainians React To Alleged Russian Missile Attack On Market
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed that its troops had repelled nine attempted Ukrainian advances south of Bakhmut.
Battlefield reports cannot be independently verified. The reports come as Ukrainian forces focus on retaking Bakhmut, which was seized by Russian troops in May after months of intense fighting, reducing the city to ruins.
Open-source researchers, meanwhile, said the missile that struck a market in the eastern town of Kostyantynivka on September 6 may have been an errant Ukrainian missile -- "a tragic accident" -- rather than a Russian strike as initially reported.
Ruslan Leviyev, who heads a respected Russian group called the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), said he reached his conclusions based on analysis of video footage of the attack. Leviyev made the claim in a report aired on the YouTube channel of Russian journalist Maikl Naki.
Last month, Leviyev and Naki, who are not currently in Russia, were both sentenced in absentia to 11 years each in a penal colony by a Moscow court for distributing "fake" news about Russia's war in Ukraine. The same month, CIT was declared "undesirable" by Russian authorities.
Ukrainian officials have not commented publicly on Leviyev's claims as of September 8.