Russian troops have been ordered to increase "shock and awe" attacks in Ukraine, it has been claimed.
The country's defence minister Sergei Shoigu is said to have given the signal to "dramatically increase bombardment" in the war-torn country.
He claimed this was needed to “exclude the possibility of the Kyiv regime inflicting massive rocket and artillery strikes on civilian infrastructure and residents of the Donbas and other regions,” said reports in Moscow.
It followed an on-the-ground inspection by the loyalist defence minister of Russia ’s war effort and a National Security Council meeting led by Vladimir Putin.
Shoigu “gave instructions to further increase the actions of [military] groups in all operational areas.”
It was unclear whether the minister's talks with military chiefs were in Russia or occupied Ukraine.
This ominous threat to Ukraine came as more details emerged of the tragic victims of this week’s sickening Russian strike on city Vinnytsia, where the death toll now stands at 24.
Pictures showed a seven-year-old boy whose remains could only be recognised from his DNA after he was hit by a Russian missile while attending a doctor’s appointment in Vinnytsia.
Maxim Zharyi died with his mother Victoria Rekuta, 35, a qualified dentist, in this week’s shocking attack on a city centre hundreds of miles from the front-line.
The pair had been to the Neuromed clinic which was struck by a missile fired from a Russian warship in the Black Sea.
Ksenia Denisyuk, Victoria’s friend, said: “He was a wonder child, bright and kind. Together they went to a clinic.
“This was the moment when the terrorist country [Russia] hit the medical centre. Maxim could be identified only with a DNA test.
“The whole world should know that Russia is a terrorist state.”
Another boy Kirill Pyakhin, eight, also died in the rocket strike, as he waited in a parked car with his uncle, while his grandmother went to get cash from a nearby bank.
This was the same attack in which little Liza Dmitrieva, four, was killed in her pushchair and her mother Irina, 33, left gravely wounded.
Killed, too, was Alina Kisel, 35, killed as a tree fell due to the missile strike.
She was in the backyard of the bank where she worked and “died instantly”.
Four other bank workers were hospitalised.
Shoigu presented the Gold Star Hero of the Russia medals to Colonel-General Alexander Lapin and Major-General Esedulla Abachev.
The Mirror told on Thursday how Russian missiles slammed into a central Ukraine community killing at least 21, including three children and injuring 115, half of them seriously.
A baby was also among those killed after three Kalibr cruise missiles smashed into Vinnytsia and several more were hit by Kyivs’ air defences.
Rescuers are searching the rubble for survivors amid fears a further 46 people are missing and may also have been killed.
At least 50 cars were set ablaze by the explosions, which left locals reeling in shock over Russia ’s latest missile strike.
Missiles were fired from submarines in the Black Sea, escalating fears Russia is increasingly focusing on killing civilians.
Vinnytsia is 430 miles from the east Ukraine frontline and the atrocity follows a string of mass casualty missile strikes.
