At least five people were killed on Monday in the Russian-backed separatist Ukrainian region of Donetsk as a result of an increase in Ukrainian shelling, according to separatist officials.
Separatist officials and Russian news agencies reported several artillery strikes in Ukraine, including one on a market. Later, Russian news agencies reported that a shell had fallen on a maternity hospital in the city of Donetsk, causing a fire and forcing staff to move patients to the basement.
Separatist officials reported five deaths, according to Russia’s state news agency TASS. Denis Pushilin, the separatist leader of Donetsk, has promised to mobilize more Russian forces to counter Ukraine.
According to Russian media, a child was among those killed, and at least 22 people were injured. They reported the shelling of the maternity hospital on Monday evening, citing a Russian correspondent.
“Thanks to the quick action of staff, there were no injuries,” RIA news agency said.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said officials had seen reports of the hospital attack.
“This is extremely troubling,” Dujarric said. “Any attack on civilian infrastructure, especially health facilities, is a clear violation of international law.”
The Donetsk News Agency earlier showed pictures of burning stalls at the Maisky market and several bodies on the ground.
“We had a hit to the market – there were many people here,” Yan Gagin, an adviser to the separatists’ self-styled government, told RIA news agency from the market.
Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that the main immediate reason for what he casts as a “special military operation” in Ukraine is to protect the Russian-speakers of the two regions in Donbas from persecution and attack by Ukraine.
Ukraine routinely denies any attacks on the two regions, the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, where separatists seized large swaths of land in 2014.
Ukraine and its Western allies claim Russia is waging an unprovoked war on a sovereign state.
Russia denies targeting civilian sites in its military action, despite the fact that the incursion has resulted in thousands of casualties and the destruction of entire Ukrainian towns.
