An emergency responder died after suffering injuries from the Aug. 7 Russian missile attack on Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast, bringing the death toll up to 10 people, the State Emergency Service reported on Aug. 13.
Colonel Vitalii Kints, the head of the 9th State Fire and Rescue Squad, died in hospital overnight on Aug. 13, according to the report.
Russian forces struck Pokrovsk with two missiles on Aug. 7, claiming to target a “command post" of Ukraine's Khortytsia Operational and Strategic Group.
On Aug. 8, the military spokesperson Serhii Cherevatyi dismissed the Russian claim, saying it's already the "third or fourth time" Russia is said to have destroyed this command post.
Russian forces hit downtown Pokrovsk at 7:15 p.m. and 7:52 p.m. on Aug. 7, damaging 12 high-rise buildings, a hotel, a local prosecutor's office building, a Pension Fund building, a pharmacy, two shops, and two cafes.
The double tap attack also injured 82 people, including two children, policemen, and rescuers.
Since the beginning of the all-out war, 78 Ukrainian first responders were killed, and 280 were injured in Russian attacks while doing their job, the State Emergency Service's spokesman Oleksandr Khorunzhyi said on Aug. 8.
Pokrovsk is located some 40 kilometers from the front line, close to the administrative border with Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
