Ukrainian shelling of the city of Stakhanov in the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), on Thursday, left 22 dead, the local Emergencies Ministry has claimed.
According to a statement from officials, the attack on Stakhanov, a regional industrial center, was staged using an Uragan multiple launch rocket system. Initially, 15 casualties were reported.
“As a result of the shelling of the territory of the Lugansk People's Republic, 22 people were killed, four people were injured, residential facilities at nine addresses and six infrastructure facilities in Stakhanov were damaged and destroyed,” the authorities said.
Local media had earlier reported that a hospital, stadium, hostel and some residential buildings were damaged by the shelling. In total, almost 20 rockets were fired, according to the Lugansk Information Center.
On Thursday, the LNR’s top official Leonid Pasechnik, commenting on the shelling of Stakhanov, compared the Ukrainian Armed Forces with the “German Nazis in 1941.” He claimed that “the nationalists knew for sure that they were attacking civilians and infrastructure.”
“It is not long to wait for the tribunal of Ukrainian criminals. Soon all the guilty will pay the price for every destroyed house, for every dead and wounded civilian of the republic!” Pasechnik pledged.
Kiev has not commented on the accusations of shelling.
Since the beginning of the Russian military operation in Ukraine in late February, Moscow and Kiev have repeatedly accused each other of various war crimes.
Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.