Russia steps up battle for city in eastern Ukraine

A worker cleans up inside as a boy passes the Kramatorsk College of Technologies and Design (David Goldman/AP)

Russian forces have stepped up their battle to seize one of the dwindling number of cities in embattled eastern Ukraine not already under their control, while continuing to fire on towns and villages in the country’s north and south.

Ukrainian officials said on Saturday that Russian shelling had collapsed balconies and blown out windows in the southern region of Mykolayiv, injuring at least nine civilians.