Russian attacks killed at least six people and injured 13 in Ukraine’s eastern frontline Donetsk region on Friday, regional prosecutors said.
A Russian missile landed near an administrative building and a bus stop in the town of Myrnohrad, northwest of the Russian-held city of Donetsk, killing four people and injuring 10.
Donetsk region governor Vadym Filashkin posted images from the impact sites showing badly damaged building facades and a bus with shattered windows. There was also a burnt car that appeared to have been thrown to the side by a blast.
A separate attack on an unnamed enterprise in the town of Kostiantynivka, northwest of Bakhmut, seized by Russian forces last year after months of battles, killed two civilians and injured three.
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Another attack, on the town of Lyman, further north, injured seven people.
Reuters could not independently confirm the accounts. Donetsk region, which Russian troops partially occupy, regularly comes under Russian shelling and air strikes.
Moscow denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure in its invasion of Ukraine, although thousands of people have been killed.
On Friday, Ukraine’s ministry for foreign affairs dismissed an allegation by a Russian official that Kyiv was planning to stage attacks on the country’s own power dams to blame Russia for the assault, describing the statement as a new intimidation tactic.
“The real purpose of such statements by Moscow is to intimidate Ukrainian society and mislead the international community and the media,” the ministry statement said.
“There can be no realistic purpose or motive for Ukraine to destroy its own infrastructure or endanger its own people. As for ‘putting the blame on Russia’, the Russian regime is doing a good job of that with its own war crimes.”
Russian ministry for foreign affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in comments reported by the Tass news agency, had earlier said Ukraine was plotting to destroy two dams in “yet another cynical provocation against Russia”.
Zakharova, who offered no evidence for her allegations, said Ukraine was “preparing to destroy” the Kyiv hydropower dam on the Dnipro river outside the capital and the Kaniv reservoir downstream.
Last year, the Kakhovka reservoir, still further downstream on the Dnipro, was destroyed, flooding large areas of southern Ukraine and causing widespread damage.
The dam was under the control of Russian occupying forces at the time and Ukraine accused them of blowing it up. Russia denied the allegation and said Ukraine was responsible. – Reuters