KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday once again urged Western allies to permit Kyiv to strike military targets deep inside Russia, especially air bases, after a deadly attack on Kharkiv.

"Only a systemic solution makes it possible to oppose this terror: the long-range solution to destroy Russian military aviation where it is based," Zelenskyy said in his daily address.

"We are waiting for appropriate decisions coming primarily from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy."

Earlier, a guided Russian bomb struck a residential building in Kharkiv, the latest of a series of attacks on the northeastern city, starting a blaze which firefighters extinguished.

Rescuers pulled out the dead body of an elderly woman from the rubble, Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram, adding that 42 people were wounded.

In his speech, Zelenskyy said Russia had also struck the Sumy and Donetsk regions on Sunday with guided bombs.

He said the Russian army carried out "at least 100 such air attacks" daily.

It is to prevent these sorts of attacks that Ukraine is asking for permission to strike military targets deep inside Russia from Western allies, who remain hesitant for fear of an escalation.

Also Sunday, Russian shelling killed one person in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, local authorities said, as Moscow's troops inched closer to the key logistics hub.

More than 20,000 people - almost half of its population - have fled the city since August, while Russian strikes over the past two weeks have cut off water and electricity to many of its remaining residents.

"Around 11:00 am (0800 GMT), the enemy shelled the western part of the city... Unfortunately, one person died," Pokrovsk's military administration said on Telegram.

Russia has been advancing towards Pokrovsk for months, getting to within 10 kilometres (six miles) of its eastern outskirts, according to the local administration.

The city lies on the intersection of rail and road routes that supply Ukrainian troops and towns across the eastern front line and has long been a target for Moscow's army.

Russian strikes damaged two overpasses in the city earlier this week, including one that connected Pokrovsk to the neighbouring town of Myrnograd, local media reported.

Other eastern cities such as Bakhmut and Mariupol suffered massive bombardment before falling to Russian forces.

 -AFP