01/21/2024 7:51 pm (current 01/21/2024 8:00 pm)
War continues to rage in eastern Ukraine ©APA/AFP
According to local authorities, at least 27 people died when a market was bombed in the city of Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, occupied by Russian troops. There were also 25 injured, the head of the Russian-annexed Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, said on Sunday. Authorities have continually revised upward the number of deaths and injuries.
Pushilin said there were more victims of Ukrainian attacks in other parts of the Donetsk region. He put the total death toll at 28, with 30 injured.
Initially there was no reaction from the Ukrainian side. The information could not be independently verified. According to Pushilin, the market was hit early in the morning, when many people were doing their Sunday shopping there.
Some Ukrainian media outlets also distributed photos and videos of a devastated market. Russian state television showed footage of a huge explosion. People lying in the street could also be seen in the recordings, the authenticity of which could not be verified. Two children were among those seriously injured, Pushilin said. He expressed his condolences to the families of those killed.
Donetsk Mayor Alexei Kulemsin called the shelling by Ukrainian forces a “barbaric attack” on a civilian area of the city. According to authorities, there were combined artillery attacks with large-caliber ammunition.
The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the “Kiev regime” of war crimes; With the help of the US and its allies, another terrorist attack was carried out against the civilian population. Russia has repeatedly criticized Western supplies of arms and ammunition to Ukraine, which uses the aid mainly to defend itself against Moscow's war of aggression.
The Donetsk market was bombed with weapons supplied by the West from the city of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, the ministry in Moscow said in a statement. This not only shows once again that the West is involved in the war, but also Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's “hatred” for the people of Donetsk. Russia called on the international community to condemn the crime against civilians. Silence, on the other hand, could encourage Zelensky to commit new atrocities, it was said.
The Ukrainian armed forces have repeatedly stated that they want to retake the area occupied by Russian troops. The Donetsk region is partly controlled by Russian troops and partly by Ukrainian troops. Fighting there has been ongoing since 2014, when separatists loyal to Moscow broke away from Kiev following the fall of Russia-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych. The new pro-Western leadership in Kiev then tried, in vain, to regain control of Donetsk and other cities in Donbass through a military operation.
In February 2022, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin initially recognized the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states and then began his war against Ukraine under the pretext of protecting Russian citizens in that country. In autumn 2022, Putin annexed the regions along with the partially occupied areas of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and incorporated them into the Russian Federation.