Two dead, 27 injured in Ukraine town, as Russia drops bomb on shopping area
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Russia dropped a reported 500kg bomb on the Ukrainian town of Dobropillia, which is just 20km from the front line.
PHOTO: X/@STRATCOMCENTRE
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KYIV - A strike by Russian forces on July 16 on a shopping centre and market in Dobropillia, a town near the front line of the 40-month-old war, killed two people, injured up to 27 and caused widespread damage, officials said.
It followed a warning from US President Donald Trump on July 14 for Moscow to reach a peace deal with Ukraine within 50 days or face severe sanctions.
Russia had earlier fired hundreds of drones, artillery and a ballistic missile
Mr Vadym Filashkin, governor of eastern Donetsk region, said a 500kg bomb was deployed at 5.20pm, when shoppers were out.
He said there were two dead and 22 people injured, with eight nearby apartment blocks and eight cars destroyed.
Video posted online showed areas around the shopping centre on fire with smoke billowing skywards.
“Firefighters are extinguishing the blaze as there is a possibility that people are still inside the shopping centre,” Mr Filashkin told Ukrainian television.
“The occupier dropped the bomb at a time when Dobropillia was crowded with people. Many were out shopping. The occupier specifically targeted the shopping centre. All nearby shopping centres have been either destroyed or damaged.”
Ukraine’s national emergency services put the number of injured at 27.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address, described the attack as “simply horrific, stupid Russian terror. There is no military logic to their strikes, only an effort to take as many lives as possible.”
Dobropillia lies north-west of Pokrovsk, a focal point for months of Russian forces’ slow advance westwards through Ukraine’s Donetsk region. It lies just 20km from the front line.
An attack on the town with missiles, rockets and drones in March killed 11 people, including five children.
Russia has stepped up its summer campaign in recent weeks as Washington-mediated ceasefire talks stall.
Mr Trump has said he is “disappointed” in Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has continued attacking Ukraine as if the two leaders’ phone conversations “didn’t mean anything.”
Some two dozen people were wounded across Ukraine in other night-time Russian attacks on July 16, officials said. REUTERS, AFP
