Alexander Ermochenko/Portal
People clear debris at a food market on Sunday after Russian-appointed local authorities say it was a Ukrainian military attack on Russian-controlled Donetsk, Ukraine.
CNN –
At least 25 people were killed and 20 injured, including two children, in a Ukrainian shelling near a market in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, according to official figures.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a released statement that a market and shops in the Kirovsky district were attacked with multiple rocket launchers, with the shelling reportedly coming from the direction of Avdiivka.
CNN is unable to independently verify this claim.
Kiev has “once again committed a barbaric terrorist attack against the civilian population of Russia,” the ministry said. “There are a large number of victims.”
Russia has responded with outrage to previous Ukrainian attacks, but has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian Investigative Committee has opened an investigation and “all those involved and responsible for this and other terrorist attacks on our soil will inevitably be punished,” the ministry said.
Denis Pushilin, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said the attack came on the busiest day of the week in the region and search parties were looking for weapons fragments.
Donetsk is one of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow wanted to recognize as Russian territory in 2022 – an annexation process that is illegal under international law.
The region, partly but not fully controlled by Russian forces, is at the forefront of fighting in the east.
The Donetsk attack takes place with largely static war fronts.
Ukraine's counteroffensive did not bring much success and its troops are now under pressure from Russia at several points along the 1,000-kilometer front line.
Kiev's troops have withdrawn from the village of Krochmalne in the northeast of the country near the border between the Kharkiv and Luhansk regions – an army spokesman said on Ukrainian television that troop positions had been moved “where they are more advantageous.” them to destroy the enemy.”
Russia's first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyansky, said the Donetsk attack would be one of the topics discussed during a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
According to the local military administration, 11 people, including five children, were killed in attacks by Russian S-300 missiles in the region earlier this month; Afterwards, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “Russia must feel – and always feel – that none of these attacks will remain without consequences for the terrorist state.”
Alexander Drozdenko/Leningrad Region Governor/Telegram/Portal
Firefighters extinguish a fire at a terminal belonging to Novatek, Russia's largest liquefied natural gas producer, in the port of Ust-Luga, Russia, on Sunday.
In a separate 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 Saint Petersburg, the latest example of Ukraine's ability to strike deep inside Russia.
A late-night video released by Leningrad Region chief Alexander Drozdenko showed what appeared to be a significant fire at the Novatek plant in Ust-Luga on the Gulf of Finland. Later videos showed firefighters battling the fire. According to the authorities, there were no injuries.
According to Novatek's website, the Ust-Luga complex processes liquefied natural gas products into various types of fuel, including Naptha, kerosene, fuel oil and gasoil.
The Ukrainian defense source said the products would be used, among other things, to supply the Russian military, adding: “The successful attack on this facility will complicate the enemy's logistics.”
Yuri Zapalatsky/Kingiseppsky district administration manager/Telegram/Portal
A Ukrainian defense source said Ukraine carried out a drone attack on the oil terminal.
The attack comes three days after a Ukrainian intelligence source reported another drone operation in the St. Petersburg region. “This is a new phase,” 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.