A Ukrainian artillery bombardment yesterday left at least 25 dead and around twenty injured in a market in Donetsk, where one of the deadliest attacks took place in this city located about 20 kilometers from the Donbass front line. and constant objective of the Kyiv army in recent months.
Donetsk is located in territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists (in fact, according to Moscow laws, it is part of the neighboring country) and was occupied in the first Ukrainian war, in 2014. “There were people screaming and a woman crying . I saw smoke in the distance, the windows of the shops were all broken,” Tatiana, a resident of the neighborhood, told a local Russian media. “What is in this military objective zone? “It’s a simple market!” commented another young woman, also named Tatiana.
The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced “a terrorist act against the civilian population”, perpetrated with “six” artillery shots from the city of Avdíyivka, the epicenter of the current fighting in the region and still under the control of Kyiv. Avdíyivka is thirty kilometers away, and precisely one of the efforts of the Russian troops to conquer it is to keep the Ukrainian batteries away from Donetsk.
Elsewhere on the front, the Russian army announced the capture of Krajmalnoye, a tiny town of 45 inhabitants in the Kharkiv region. Kyiv immediately downplayed it: “There are five houses. They were destroyed by the Russians,” Volodymyr Fitio, spokesman for the Ukrainian army, told Ukrainian television. He noted, however, that Ukrainian troops had been “moved to reserve positions.” In the face of repeated Russian attacks, Ukrainian authorities ordered the evacuation of 26 towns in the Kharkiv region, where Kupiansk is located, at the beginning of the week, a decision that affected about 3,000 people.
In an attempt to stop the Russian machine and in retaliation for attacks on its territory, the Ukrainian military has increased drone and missile attacks against enemy territory in recent weeks. Thus, a fire at a Russian gas terminal in the Baltic Sea appears to be the result of a drone attack. The terminal belongs to Novatek, Russia’s largest producer of liquefied natural gas. The fire in two storage tanks and a pumping station forced the company to suspend some operations. Located in the Gulf of Finland and about 170 kilometers west of St. Petersburg, the Ust-Luga complex processes gas condensate into jet fuel, fuel oil and diesel, according to Novatek’s website. From the port, the processed product is sent to international markets.
The Interfax-Ukraine news agency, citing anonymous sources, said the fire was the result of a special operation carried out by Ukraine’s security services. “The Ust-Luga oil terminal in the Leningrad region is an important facility for the enemy. The fuel is refined there and, among other things, is also supplied to Russian troops.”
Alexander Drozdenko, governor of the Leningrad region, said on the Telegram messaging app that there were no casualties and that all workers had been safely evacuated. The Russian portal Shot reported that residents had heard a drone nearby, followed by several explosions.
On Friday, a drone strike hit an oil depot in Russia’s western Bryansk region, bordering Ukraine, for which Moscow blamed Kyiv. This came a day after an attack on a Russian oil terminal in the Baltic Sea that Russian officials said was unsuccessful. Three international tankers were anchored near the fire, although there were no reports of damage, Fontanka news outlet said.
