A strike on a busy market in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine killed at least 25 people and injured 20 more on Sunday, according to Moscow-backed officials.
Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused one other of sharply increasing strikes on civilian areas during the last two months.
Videos broadcast by Russian state media showed shattered stores and broken glass, as well as what seemed to be bodies on the ground nearby.
“At the moment, information about 25 dead has been confirmed. At least 20 more people have been injured,” said Denis Pushilin, head of the region’s Russian-controlled administration.
He blamed Ukraine for the strike, describing it as a “horrific” attack on a populated area.
Ukraine did not immediately respond, and AFP was unable to confirm the details of the incident.
Officials claimed the strike struck a southern area of the city, fewer than 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the eastern front.
‘People screamed’
Local resident Tatiana said she heard an incoming projectile overhead, and hid under her market stall.
“I saw smoke, people screamed, a woman was crying,” she told a local media outlet.
“Where is there anything military here? It’s just a market,” another resident named Tatiana told the same outlet. “This is one of the strongest blows in recent times,” she said.
The toll marks one of the deadliest in Donetsk since Moscow launched full-scale hostilities against Ukraine in February 2022.
Donetsk, occupied by Russia and its proxy forces since 2014, has been repeatedly targeted by what Moscow has called indiscriminate Ukrainian shelling.
Moscow called Sunday’s attack a “barbaric terrorist attack” that showed the need for its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
“Security threats and acts of terrorism should not be committed from the territory of Ukraine,” its foreign ministry said.
Gas terminal ablaze
The attack occurred as Russia reported another fire in its energy infrastructure, this time at a gas terminal in the Baltic Sea town of Ust-Luga.
Kyiv claimed responsibility earlier this week for two attacks on Russian oil tanks, one of which occurred in the same Leningrad region as Ust-Luga.
According to operator Novatek, there were no victims and the fire was “currently localised” at the location, which is some 110 kilometers (70 miles) west of St Petersburg near the Estonian border.
Novatek stated that the incident was caused by a “external factor” but did not provide any other information.
Ukraine, which has targeted Russian oil and gas infrastructure during the nearly two-year conflict, did not immediately respond to the event.
“No casualties as a result of a fire at Novatek’s terminal in the port of Ust-Luga. Personnel were evacuated,” Aleksandr Drozdenko, governor of Leningrad Oblast, said.
He shared a photo showing firefighters spraying water on a large fire at the terminal.
The RIA-Novosti news agency said a 100 cubic metre container was ablaze.
The Ust-Luga complex processes natural gas condensate into naphtha, jet fuel and ship fuel components, according to Novatek’s website.