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Shelling killed at least 28 people and injured 30, including two children, near a market in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, according to Russian officials. Moscow blamed Ukraine for the attack, while Kyiv denied responsibility.
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 Avdiivka’s address. Kiev “has once committed a barbaric terrorist act against the civilian population of Russia,” the Russian ministry said. “There are a gigantic number of victims. “
CNN cannot independently make this claim.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine have pleaded not guilty to the shelling. “The Russians spread misinformation about the attack on the Donetsk market. We responsibly assert that the forces under the control of Tavria’s army did not participate in the fighting. operations in this case,” reads a message posted on the Facebook page of the Tavria Armed Forces Command.
“Russia will have to be held guilty for the lives of the murdered Ukrainians,” he added.
Russia has reacted with outrage to past Ukrainian attacks, but it is also outraged by the deaths of thousands of civilians following its full-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 that search parties were searching for weapons fragments.
At least 27 civilians were killed and at least 25 wounded in a market domain and in the Kirovsky district of the city of Donetsk, Pushilin said in a Telegram post.
Another man was also killed on Sunday in another part of Donetsk city as a result of shelling, Pushilin said. Five additional people were wounded in the city and elsewhere in Russian-occupied parts of the region on Sunday, he said.
Residential buildings, a school and other parts of the Russian-occupied region were also damaged, he said.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the deadly attacks on Russian-controlled parts of Donetsk region, a UN spokesperson said on Sunday.
“The Secretary-General strongly condemns all attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, adding to today’s shelling of the city of Donetsk in Ukraine,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited under foreign humanitarian law, are unacceptable and must cease immediately,” he continued.
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 Donetsk attack comes with the frontlines of the war largely static.
Ukraine’s counteroffensive failed to deliver major gains and its troops are now under pressure from Russia at several points along the 1,000 kilometer-long frontline.
kyiv’s troops withdrew from the village of Krokhmalne in the northeast of the country, near the border between Kharkiv and Luhansk regions. An army spokesman told Ukrainian television that his troops’ position had been moved “to where it is most advantageous for them. ” to destroy the enemy.
In another indication of increasing Russian pressure, Ukraine’s military says it expects to see Russia’s forces step up operations around the embattled town of Avdiivka, as well as nearby Nevelske and Pervomaiske – which all lie to the immediate northwest of Donetsk city.
“The enemy is regrouping and we are in favor of intensifying its activities,” a Ukrainian military spokesman said.
In recent months, Avdiivka has been at the center of Russian fighting, as has Bakhmut in the first part of 2023. The Ukrainian military spokesman said Russia now has around 40,000 Russian troops in the region.
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 deep into Russia.
A night-time video posted by Leningrad regional boss Alexander Drozdenko showed what appeared to be a significant fire at the Novatek facility in Ust-Luga, which sits on the Gulf of Finland. Later videos showed fire-fighters tackling 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 to supply, among others, 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 has carried out drone movements in the Tula, Smolensk and Belgorod regions.
This story has been updated with more news.
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