Ukrainian shelling of the city of Gorlovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has injured 12 civilians, including the head of a city district, regional Governor Denis Pushilin reported on Thursday.
“The enemy keeps attacking the city with no military purpose, which only hurts the civilian population,” the Donbass official said in a post on social media. “Thousands of residents are without power and heat due to targeted strikes against critical infrastructure.”
A service reporting Ukrainian attacks on the Russian region has posted nine warnings about artillery strikes on Gorlovka since Wednesday, with two or three 155mm cluster munition shells landing each time. The attacks were all said to be coming from the south-western direction.
The apparent spike in the bombardment of the Donbass city comes amid an overall intensification of military action between Russia and Ukraine. Kiev has been on the backfoot since the summer, particularly in the eastern front line, where Russian troops have been gaining ground at an increasingly fast pace, according to media estimates.
According to reports, the government of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has come under increased pressure this month after Republican Donald Trump won the US presidential election.
The former president claimed on the campaign trail that he could reach a peace deal on Ukraine within 24 hours of coming to power, which the media widely interpreted as an intention to lean on both sides to force a compromise once he is sworn in on January 20. Some of Trump’s allies have suggested that the conflict should be frozen along the de facto front line, an idea that both Kiev and Moscow have rejected.
Last week, US President Joe Biden reportedly authorized Ukrainian strikes with American-supplied long-range weapons inside internationally-recognized Russian territory, although Washington has not officially announced the policy change. The Russian military on Wednesday reported intercepting US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles over Bryansk Region.