By Darya Tarasova, Teele Rebane, Radina Gigova, Victoria Butenko, Josh Pennington, Andrew Carey and Maria Kostenko, CNN
(CNN) — At least 25 other people were killed and 20 others injured, along with two children, in a Ukrainian bombing near a market in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, according to reports. responsible.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that a market and department store in the city’s Kirovsky district were targeted by multiple rocket launch systems, and that the shelling allegedly came from the Avdiivka direction.
CNN cannot independently make this claim.
Kyiv “has once again committed a barbaric terrorist act in support of Russia’s civilian population,” the ministry said. “There are several victims. “
Russia has reacted with outrage to past Ukrainian attacks, but it is also outraged by the deaths of thousands of civilians following its large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s investigative committee has opened an investigation and “all those involved and guilty of this and other terrorist attacks on our soil will face inevitable sanctions,” the ministry said.
Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said the attack took place on the busiest day of the week in the region and search parties were searching for weapon fragments.
Donetsk is one of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow declared in 2022 to recognize as Russian territory, an annexation procedure that is illegal under foreign law.
The region, partially but fully controlled by Russian forces, is on the front lines in the east.
The attack on Donetsk comes at a time when the front lines of the war are largely static.
Ukraine’s counteroffensive has failed to make any major gains, and its troops are now under pressure from Russia at several points along the 1,000-kilometer-long front line.
Kyiv’s troops withdrew from the village of Krokhmalne in the northeast of the country, near the border between the Kharkiv and Luhansk regions. An army spokesman told Ukrainian television that the position of its troops had been moved “to wherever it is most advantageous for them. “to destroy the enemy.
Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said the Donetsk attack will be one of the topics discussed during a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Earlier this month, 11 people, plus five children, were killed in Russian S-300 missile strikes in the area, according to the local army administration; After which, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated: “Russia will have to feel – and feel – that none of these measures will remain without consequences for the terrorist state. “
In development, a Ukrainian defense source told CNN that Ukraine carried out a drone strike on a Russian oil terminal about 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of St. Petersburg, the latest example of Ukraine’s ability to strike inside Russia.
A middle-of-the-night video released by Leningrad regional leader Alexander Drozdenko shows what appears to be a giant chimney at Novatek’s plant in Ust-Luga, located on the Gulf of Finland. Later videos showed firefighters battling the blaze. Authorities said there were no injuries.
According to Novatek’s website, the Ust-Luga complex processes liquefied vegetable fuel products into fuel types, adding naphtha, jet fuel, fuel oil, and diesel.
The Ukrainian defense source claimed that the products are used, among others, to supply the Russian army, adding: “A successful attack on this facility will complicate the enemy’s logistics. “
The attack comes three days after a Ukrainian intelligence source claimed responsibility for the drone operation targeting the St. Petersburg region. “This is a new step,” the source told CNN. “Our targets are military installations and oil depots. “
Elsewhere, Ukraine also carried out drone strikes in the Tula, Smolensk and Belgorod regions.
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