Ukraine kills more than 25 civilians in Russia-controlled city of Donetsk, officials claim

01/24/2024 / By Ethan Huff

The regime of Volodymyr Zelensky bombed a food market the other day in the Russia-controlled city of Donetsk, killing at least 27 people and injuring another 25.

According to Denis Pushilin, who heads up the Moscow-installed authorities that rule Donetsk, the Ukrainian military is responsible for the attack, which occurred in the suburb of Tekstilshchik. Both 152mm and 155mm caliber artillery shells were used in the attack, which came from the direction of Kurakhove and Krasnohorivka to the west.

On Monday, Pushilin announced a day of mourning to remember those who were lost in the assault, which bears many similarities to the attacks by Israel on civilian areas of Gaza.

“These terrorist attacks by the Kyiv regime clearly demonstrate its lack of political will towards achieving peace and the settlement of this conflict by diplomatic means,” said Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.

At the time of this article’s publishing, Ukraine had not issued any comment or statement about the attack.

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United Nations “strongly condemns all attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure” in Ukraine

The United Nations responded to the attack with a statement from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who “strongly condemn[ed] all attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, including today’s shelling of the city of Donetsk in Ukraine,” a UN spokesperson confirmed.

The UN added that all such attacks are strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law, which leaves Ukraine in violation.

In his nightly address, Zelensky did not address the attack in Tekstilshchik. He did, however, claim that in a single day, Russia shelled more than 100 cities, towns and villages in nine regions of Ukraine, adding that the attacks in Donetsk were “particularly severe.”

In a Facebook post, soldiers from Ukraine’s forces in Tavria, or the southern zone, claimed no responsibility for the market shelling, instead blaming Russia for it.

“Donetsk is Ukraine!” the post reads. “Russia will have to answer for taking lives of Ukrainians.”

Since 2014, the southeastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, collectively known as Donbas, have been under the control of Moscow-backed separatists.

Shortly after launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine back in February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin “recognized” these regions of Ukraine as separate republics. They were among four Ukrainian regions that Russia later annexed in September 2022, a move that the United Nations General Assembly condemned as illegal.

In a separate announcement, Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced that Moscow forces had taken control of the village of Krokhmalne, located in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region. Volodymyr Fityo, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command, told reporters that Ukraine’s military has since withdrawn from the area.

Before the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, Krokhmalne had a population of roughly 45 people, according to Fityo.

Concerning Ukraine’s withdrawal from the region, authorities in Kyiv tried to downplay it as insignificant, according to Al Jazeera‘s Rob McBride.

“They [Ukrainians] say this was a small village and they gave up only a couple of kilometers to the Russians … they say it was of little consequence for the overall situation,” McBride said.

Since the start of Russia’s war on Ukraine, both Moscow and Kyiv have continued to fight from roughly the same static position along a roughly 1,500 km, or 930-mile, front line.

In an attempt to find gaps in Ukraine’s defenses, Russia is said to be using large numbers of various types of missiles aimed at saturating Ukraine’s air defense systems.