At least 25 killed in Ukrainian attack on Donetsk

(CNN) — Ukrainian bomb blasts killed at least 25 people and injured 20, including two children, on Sunday near a market in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, according to officials.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that a market and shops in the city’s Kirovsky district were hit by a multiple launch missile system, with the shelling apparently coming from the Avdiivka direction.

CNN has not been able to independently verify this claim.

“Kiev has once again committed a barbaric terrorist act against the civilian population of Russia,” the ministry announced. “There are a large number of victims out there.”

Russia reacted with outrage to previous Ukrainian attacks, but has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians following a large-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched an investigation and “all those involved and responsible for this and other terrorist attacks on our soil will suffer inevitable punishment,” the ministry said.

Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said the attack occurred on the busiest day of the week for the region and that search teams were looking for weapons remains.

Donetsk is one of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow has said it will recognize as Russian territory in 2022, an illegal process under international law.

The region, partially but not completely controlled by Russian forces, is on the front line of the battle in the east.

The Donetsk attack comes at a time when the war fronts are largely stable.

The Ukrainian counteroffensive failed to make significant progress and its troops are now under pressure from Russia at several points along the 1,000-kilometre-long front.

Kiev’s forces withdrew from the village of Krokhmalne in the north-east of the country, near the border between Kharkiv and Luhansk regions, and an army spokesman said on Ukrainian television that its troops were positioned “where it is most advantageous for them “has been transferred to. To destroy the enemy.”

Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, said the Donetsk attack will be one of the topics discussed during a UN Security Council meeting this Monday, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze at a terminal of Novatek, the largest producer of liquefied natural gas, in Russia’s Ust-Luga port on Sunday. (Credit: Alexander Drozdenko/Governor of the Leningrad Region/Telegram/Reuters)

Earlier this month, eleven people, including five children, were killed in Russian S-300 missile strikes in the area, according to local military authorities. Following these events, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared: “Russia must realize – and must always realize – that none of these attacks will remain without consequences for the terrorist state.”

Ukraine attacks Russian oil terminal

On the other hand, a Ukrainian defense source told CNN that they carried out a drone attack on a Russian oil terminal located about 100 kilometers west of St. Petersburg, the latest example of Ukraine’s ability to strike inside Russia.

A massive fire broke out at the Novatek facility in Ust-Luga, located on the Gulf of Finland, a video posted overnight by Leningrad regional head Alexander Drozdenko showed. Later video showed firefighters battling the flames. According to officials, there were no casualties.

According to Novatek’s website, the Ust-Luga complex processes liquefied natural gas products into a variety of fuels, such as naphtha, jet fuel, fuel oil and diesel.

The Ukrainian defense source said the products are used, among other things, to supply the Russian military, adding: “A successful attack on this facility will complicate the enemy’s logistics.”

A Ukrainian defense source said they conducted a drone strike against an oil terminal. (Credit: Yuri Zaplatsky/Chief of Kingiseppsky District Administration/Telegram/Reuters)

The attack comes three days after a Ukrainian intelligence source claimed responsibility for another drone operation targeting 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.