The ‘horrendous’ attack claimed at least 25 lives, the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic says
Residents of the city near the bodies of people who died as a result of the shelling of the AFU market in the Kirovsky district of Donetsk. © Sputnik / Victoria Velenskaya
The number of fatalities in the Ukrainian shelling of a busy market in Donetsk has climbed to at least 25, Denis Pushilin, the leader of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic, has said.
Some 20 civilians were wounded in the “horrendous” attack on Sunday, he wrote in a post on Telegram.
Many of the injured are in a serious condition, including with “penetrating wounds in the area of vital organs and traumatic amputation of limbs,” according to the official. Two children were wounded in the bombardment, with their condition described as moderate, the regional chief added.
The bombardment, which hit the Kirov District in the southwest of the city, was carried out with the use of 152mm and 155mm munitions, Pushilin said.
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Earlier on Sunday, the republic’s Joint Center for Control and Coordination said three shells were fired at the Kirov District shortly after 10am local time (8am GMT) and three more around ten minutes later.
The mayor of Donetsk, Aleksey Kulemzin, condemned the attack as “another dark day in the history of the city.” Ukrainian forces “wickedly” decided to bring death and destruction on the civilians of Donetsk to avenge failures on the battlefield, he wrote on Telegram.
Donetsk, which is located close to the frontline, and other towns and villages in the republic, have been targeted by Ukrainian forces on almost a daily basis since the start of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. Sunday’s attack, however, was among the city’s worst.
Ukraine’s first deadly bombardment of Donetsk in 2024 took place shortly after midnight on January 1, claiming four lives. Earlier this week, six civilians were wounded in a Ukrainian shelling of the town of Gorlovka, with a kindergarten and a hotel among the affected buildings.
