Flames and black smoke chugged from the windows of a two-storey apartment block in a frontline Ukrainian town.

Residents said a Russian missile or bomb had punched a large crater into the soil in front of the building, devastating their homes.

The attack had only happened a short while ago and the scene on Saturday morning was still chaotic, with people worried the fire would spread to a row of apartments next door.

“There are pensioners inside,” said one man. “If the fire gets in, they will be burnt.”

Firefighters had yet to arrive, but the town of Vovchansk, barely three miles from the Russian border, has become a warzone since Russia launched a surprise new offensive in the northeast of Ukraine in the early hours of Friday morning.

Shocked and crying, a lady, who gave her name as Valentyna, swept up broken glass on the ground.

“Everyone is suffering,” the 59-year-old said.

Despite the danger, she said she did not want to leave.

Local community workers did their best to help respond to the explosion, entering the burning building to retrieve belongings, while warning others to stand back in case of any secondary blasts.

A woman whose apartment was destroyed in the strike had a lucky escape.

Tatiana, 71, said she had been covered in glass. Blood was seeping from a deep-looking cut towards the bottom of her left leg.

Asked how she felt, she said: “What can I feel in this situation? I don’t know whether firefighters will come or not.”

Gesturing towards the hole, she said: “Just look at how huge this pit is. It should be some serious shell or rocket. It is not just some mortar just look at it.”

A police officer, who accompanied Sky News into Vovchansk, asked the women whether she would like to be evacuated, but she said she did not want to go as she had to deal with the aftermath of the attack on her home.

Some 3,000 residents had been living in the town, according to the mayor, though hundreds have already fled or been evacuated in the past day.

We drove into the town centre to witness the scale of the destruction.

Barely a building was undamaged – some lying completely in ruins.

Vovchansk had been occupied by Russian forces during the first months of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

A Ukrainian counteroffensive pushed them out. But the town has never been left in peace, with Russian forces across the border launching artillery strikes ever since.

But they had recently become more intense, in particular over the past week before erupting into the unprecedented bombardments of the past day and a half.

Vladyslav Seminahin, a senior lieutenant with the Vovchansk District Police, told Sky News he felt outraged by the devastation.

“I feel… a sense of injustice that innocent people are suffering, losing their homes, health, and sometimes even their lives,” he said, speaking as he drove with us through the town.

“We help them in any way we can.”

As for whether he thought evacuated residents would be able to return, he said: “I think they will, of course. We need to wait a bit. I believe everyone will come back. Ukraine will remain within its borders. We hope for that. And we’re doing everything for it.”

Eurovision has kicked out the Netherlands’ entrant following a controversy over an “incident” he was involved in.

Joost Klein was alleged to have made verbal threats to a female Eurovision production worker at the event’s venue in Malmo, Sweden, on Thursday night.

Eurovision organisers quashed widespread rumours that the incident was linked to Israel’s delegation, saying Joost Klein’s “inappropriate behaviour” towards the staff member was a “breach of contest rules”.

It is the first time in Eurovision history that an act has been disqualified after reaching the grand final

Dutch broadcaster Avrotros said Klein’s disqualification was “disproportionate”, while the Netherlands’ delegation said it was “shocked” by the decision.

Swedish police said in a statement: “A man is suspected of making unlawful threats at the Malmo Arena on Thursday evening.

“The man has been questioned by the police but not detained. The complainant is an employee at Eurovision. The police have questioned the suspect, complainant and witnesses.”

Klein, 26, had failed to perform at two dress rehearsals on Friday, as the EBU said it was investigating an “incident.”

Around 180 million people around the world are expected to watch 25 entrants slug it out in tonight’s final, with Croatia and Switzerland among those tipped to take the trophy, ahead of UK entry Olly Alexander, with his track Dizzy, and Ireland’s Bambie Thug.

Klein had been due to perform his track Europapa, a happy-hardcore inspired song dismissed by one critic as “so bad” it will “put you off music forever”, but which was nonetheless one of the favourites to win.

Protests have dogged the competition over Israel’s inclusion amid the war in Gaza.

There are more pro-Palestinian protests planned in Malmo on Saturday evening to coincide with the grand final, amid the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Over the last few months, there have been demonstrations and calls for acts to boycott the show, after the EBU refused to remove Israel from the competition, insisting it had broken no broadcasting rules.

On Thursday, 10,000-12,000 people, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, took to the streets of the city to call for Israel to be excluded.

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Ms Thunberg, 21, claimed Israel is trying to “artwash” Eurovision, referencing the use of artistic performance to distract from perceived negative actions by people, groups, governments or countries.

“The world cannot remain silent in a genocide,” she said on X.

At a news conference the same day, Klein covered his head while Israel’s Eden Golan was speaking to reporters and shouted “why not” when the moderator told her she didn’t have to answer a journalist’s question.

Ireland’s Eurovision entry, Bambie Thug, has called on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to “gain some conscience” and “humanity,” as the contest bosses struggle to keep politics off the stage at the annual competition.

The 31-year-old, who is non-binary and uses the pronouns “they” and “them”, also said “they cried with their team” when they found out Israel had got through to the grand final of the contest.

Bambie is currently fifth favourite to win the competition with “ouija pop” song Doomsday Blue.

Israel’s act, Eden Golan, will compete with her song Hurricane which was reworked after an initial version titled October Rain was ruled too political by the EBU, which believed some lyrics referred to the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel.

In March, Bambie was one of the nine contestants – including the UK’s Olly Alexander, Finland’s Windows95Man and Switzerland’s Nemo – who called for a ceasefire in Gaza and the “safe return” of Israeli hostages in a joint statement.

Earlier in the week, Bambie said the EBU prevented them from displaying a pro-Palestinian message during their performance during the first semi-final.

They told reporters at an earlier news conference that they had been forced to change writing painted on their body which had been painted in an early Medieval alphabet which translated to “ceasefire and freedom”.

At the time, a spokesperson for the EBU said: “The writing seen on Bambie Thug’s body during dress rehearsals contravened contest rules that are designed to protect the non-political nature of the event.

“After discussions with the Irish delegation, they agreed to change the text for the live show.”

Bambie said for the EBU to better handle future political issues it needed to focus on “gaining some heart and some conscience and some humanity”.

They also said demonstrations and calls for Israel to be banned over their ongoing ground offensive in Gaza was “completely overshadowing” the contest.

They said: “It’s an incredibly intense atmosphere, you know… I don’t think it’s sitting well with any of the contestants, to be honest.”

There are more pro-Palestinian protests planned in Malmo to coincide with the Eurovision grand final, amid the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Police estimated more than 10,000 people took part in a march on Thursday.

During an earlier rehearsal on Wednesday, Golan was met with some boos and cries of “Free Palestine”, and an audience member appeared to have a Palestinian flag removed from them in the auditorium.

Separately, Spain’s state-owned broadcaster hit out at the EBU on Friday, calling for it to respect “press and opinion” at this year’s event.

RTVE wrote on social media: “The Spanish delegation from @eurovision_tve has conveyed to @EBU_HQ its commitment to freedom of the press and opinion and has asked that @Eurovision let them watch it.”

The post was made shortly after it was announced that Madrid would be hosting the Junior Eurovision Song Contest later this year.

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Some 26 countries, including UK entry Olly Alexander, 33, with his track Dizzy, are due to battle it out for the coveted Eurovision glass trophy tonight.

Bambie also referred to an unexplained “incident” involving Netherlands act Joost which happened on Friday and resulted in him being “investigated” by the EBU and removed from the two grand finale rehearsals.

When asked if they and other acts were supportive of him, Bambie said: “I don’t know what exactly happened with the incident, but I am with anyone who was pro-Palestine.”

There is no indication that Friday’s “incident” is linked to disagreements about the situation in the Middle East.

Joost had been part of the flag parade at the start of Friday’s rehearsal, and walked around the stage in full costume, but then failed to arrive on stage for his performance around 30 minutes later.

He later failed to perform in the grand final jury vote – which is the final rehearsal before the real show.

The EBU – which has said the investigation is “ongoing” – is yet to confirm whether Joost will be performing in the grand final tonight.

Bambie also said they were worried Ireland might miss out on votes due to the ongoing boycott to stop Eurovision.

They said: “I’m fearful that we will miss a lot of votes because of the boycotting, and that those then will make someone else have more of a chance to win.

“I don’t think it should, but there are 200 million viewers.”

They said people should vote for Bambie Thug “for art, for change, to shake things up and for best song, best performer in the competition”.

Croatia is currently predicted to win the contest, followed by Israel, with fellow non-binary contestant Nemo, who is competing for Switzerland, resting in third place.

Meanwhile, Irish premier Simon Harris has said the “whole country will be rooting” for Bambie, who is the first Irish finalist since 2018.

:: Sky News will be in Malmo with updates, a live blog, and all the biggest news from the final as it happens