The city of Gorlovka in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) came under heavy Ukrainian shelling on Sunday, with at least one person killed and five more wounded, according to local authorities.
At least 20 projectiles fell in Nikitovka District in central Gorlovka alone, with one missile directly hitting the city’s largest shopping center Galaktika. The mall was first wrecked by an explosion and then completely burned down, according to videos posted on Telegram. A nearby residential building was also hit.
Gorlovka Mayor Ivan Prikhodko said that a local woman had lost her life: “as a result of the shelling of the center of Gorlovka by Ukrainian Nazis, a civilian woman was killed. Blessed be the memory of the innocent.”
The Joint Centre for Control and Coordination (JCCC) has reported that over the last 24 hours, the Ukrainian forces shelled the territory of the DPR at least 42 times with 139 different munitions, including NATO caliber cluster shells. According to local authorities, fragments of Grad munitions were found at the site where the woman was killed.
Located 50 kilometers north of Donetsk, Gorlovka is considered to be one of the most populated areas in the region. The Donetsk and neighboring Lugansk People’s Republics have been subjected to regular shelling since 2014, when the former Ukrainian regions rejected the Western-backed coup in Kiev and declared independence. They were incorporated into Russia last October together with the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions, following referendums in which the local populations voted overwhelmingly in favor of the move.
Russia has repeatedly accused Kiev’s forces of targeting residential areas with no military significance. Western-provided munitions have been used to strike the cities of Donetsk and Lugansk including cluster munitions and aerially-dispersed landmines, claiming numerous civilian lives.