Pokrovsk, Ukraine - At least 11 people, including five children, were killed by a Russian missile strike on the eastern Ukraine town of Pokrovsk on Saturday, the regional governor said.

Eight people were also wounded when Russian forces hit the area with S-300 missiles.

"The main blow was dealt to Pokrovsk and Rivne in the community of Myrnograd", the head of the Donetsk region, Vadim Filashkin, said on Telegram.

He released photographs showing rescue workers working through the debris of the attack, which damaged six houses.

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The town of Pokrovsk, which had a population of 60,000 before the war, had already been hit by a deadly bombardment last August, which left nine people dead and 82 injured.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the attacks saying "the Russians just hit ordinary residential buildings, private houses." He assured no Russian strike "will go without consequence".

The town is around 30 miles from the front line of the fighting.

Since late December, there has been an increase in the number of strikes in both Ukraine and Russia, with particularly heavy casualties, as the war triggered by Russia's invasion in February 2022 nears the end of its second year. Despite the intensification, the front line has barely shifted.

The number of strikes on both sides has multiplied in recent days, with Russia in particular bombing Ukrainian towns en masse on two occasions: on December 29, when 55 people were killed, and on Wednesday when six died.

For its part, Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the Russian town of Belgorod, 30 miles from the border, including an unprecedented attack last Saturday that killed 25 people.