On Sunday, at least 27 civilians were killed and another 25 were injured in the market located in Donetsk, a city currently occupied by Russian forces. As relayed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in a released statement, these events happened following the shelling of the Tekstilshckik suburb, which is less than 15 kilometers from the Ukrainian-Russian war frontline.
The Russian Ministry places the blame on Ukraine for this incident, alleging the weaponry used in the shelling were supplied by Western countries. According to them, Western support to Ukraine implicates these countries in the “criminal acts committed by the Zelensky regime.” They consider the act a “treacherous attack on civilians.”
Contrarily, Ukraine’s armed forces denied these allegations, asserting they did not conduct combat operations in the aforementioned incident. They demanded that Russia bear the responsibility for the lives taken, stressing that Donetsk is part of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky expressed condolences to the bereaved and called this situation the “most brutal Russian attacks… in Donetsk region.”
The incident also drew comments from Ravina Shamdasani, the UN Human Rights Spokesperson, who deplored the killing and underscored the need for an independent investigation to ensure accountability for these attacks.
Since the invasion of Russia on February 24, 2022, the OHCHR officially verified that 10,287 civilians have been killed and a further 19,444 injured. These assaults on civilian and civilian-infrastructure are considered a clear violation of both the international humanitarian law and the international criminal law, constituting as war crimes and thus subjected to prosecution by the International Criminal Court.
For more details, refer to the original article on Jurist.