UPDATE - Russia missile attack kills 21, including 3 children in Vinnytsia: Ukraine

UPDATES TITLE, DECK, INTRO, NUMBER OF CASUALTIES, ADDS INFORMATION

By Ruslan Rehimov and Davit Kachkachishvili

KYIV, SLOVIANSK, Ukraine (AA) -Twenty-one people, including three children, were killed Thursday in a Russian missile attack in west-central Ukraine, according to authorities.

Ukraine's Emergency Situations Service said 52 others were injured in the attack in Vinnytsia, 34 badly wounded and 42 were missing following the strike.

An officer's army house in the city and nearby residences were hit by three missiles, Ukrainian National Police said in a statement.

Firefighting and search and rescue efforts were underway.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the attack.

"Russia is destroying our civilian population every day, killing Ukrainian children, firing missiles at civilian areas where there is no military element. If this is not an outright act of terrorism, what is it? They are not human. A murderer country, a terrorist country," Zelenskyy said in a statement on Telegram.

Meanwhile, civilian evacuations in Sloviansk in the Donetsk region have been accelerated after Russian attacks have intensified in recent days.

Russia increased air and artillery attacks on residential buildings, markets, and industrial buildings in the city, which is located nearly 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the front line in the Donetsk region.

Very few markets and pharmacies are providing service in Sloviansk, where the mobility of the Ukrainian military and police forces can be seen and the sounds of firing artillery systems can be heard.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz and Ali Murat Alhas in Ankara