KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — At least 18 people were killed Sunday by shelling at a market on the outskirts of the city of Donetsk in Russian-occupied Ukraine, local officials reported Sunday.
Another 13 people were injured in the strike in the suburb of Tekstilshchik, said Alexei Kulemzin, the city's Russian-appointed mayor. He said the grenades were fired by the Ukrainian military.
Kiev has not commented on the incident and the claims could not be independently verified by The Associated Press.
The emergency services are still on site, said Denis Pushilin, head of the Russian-installed authorities in Donetsk.
Also on Sunday, a fire broke out after two explosions at a chemical transport terminal in the Russian port of Ust-Luga, regional officials said. Local media reported that the port was attacked by Ukrainian drones, causing a gas tank to explode.
The fire occurred at a site belonging to Russia's second-largest natural gas producer Novatek, 165 kilometers southwest of St. Petersburg.
In a press release to Russian media outlet RBC, the company said the fire was the result of “external influence.” It was also said that operations in the port had stopped.
Yuriy Zapalatskiy, the head of Russia's Kingisepp region where the port is located, said in a statement that there were no injuries but that the district had been placed on high alert.
The Fontanka news agency reported that two drones were spotted flying towards St. Petersburg on Sunday morning, but they were diverted towards the Kingisepp region. The Associated Press could not independently verify the reports.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not report any drone activity in the Kingisepp area in its daily briefing. Four Ukrainian drones were shot down in Russia's Smolensk region and two more in the Oryol and Tula regions, it said.
Russian officials had previously confirmed that a Ukrainian drone was shot down on the outskirts of St. Petersburg on Thursday.
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