Denis Pushilin, the Russian-appointed head of the Donetsk region, and Alexei Kulemzin, the Russian-appointed mayor of the city, said on Sunday, the 21st January, that Ukrainian forces had carried out an attack in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, killing 27 people and wounding 25 others, reports Reuters.
The press office of Ukraine’s Tavria group, a military unit fighting on the south-eastern front line, on Facebook denied that soldiers under their command were responsible for what happened, insisting Russia was spreading disinformation.
“Donetsk is Ukraine!” the statement said, “Russia will have to answer for taking the lives of Ukrainians,” Reuters cited the statement.
The Russian foreign ministry called the attack on Donetsk a “barbaric act of terrorism” by Ukraine, saying it was carried out “using Western weapons”. The Ministry described it as a treacherous attack on civilians.
In his video address overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy did not refer specifically to the attack on Donetsk, but mentioned that Russia had shelled more than 100 cities, towns and villages in nine regions of Ukraine in one day.
Zelensky stressed that the attacks in the Donetsk region have been particularly severe.
Vadym Filashkin, Governor of the Ukrainian-controlled part of the region, on Telegram, called on all those who remained to evacuate.
Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago, has expressed its outrage at the Ukrainian attacks which have resulted in civilian casualties in Donetsk and other regions. It should be noted that Russia’s own air strikes and heavy shelling have claimed the lives of thousands of Ukrainian civilians.
Separately on Sunday, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported that Russian forces had taken control of a village in the Kharkiv region of north-eastern Ukraine. A Ukrainian military spokesman acknowledged that Kyiv’s forces had withdrawn from the area, but pointed out that the territory lost was small and had no significant impact on the overall military situation, writes Reuters.
Also read: Russian city Voronezh declares state of emergency after Ukrainian drone strike
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