At least two people have been killed and another 27 people have been injured after a Russian air attack at a shopping centre and market in the town of Dubropyria in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, officials said.
Regional Governor Vadym Filashkin told Telegram that more than 50 shops, 300 apartments and eight cars were damaged in the attack Wednesday evening.
In his evening speech, President Voldymee Zelensky described the strike as “simply terrifying” and “no military logic.” Russia has not commented.
Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy to Ukraine, is in Kiev on a week-long trip to discuss Ukrainian cooperation with Zelensky.
“The Russians deliberately targeted areas with many people in the shopping centre in the middle of the town,” Gov. Firashkin wrote on Telegram on Wednesday.
“This time it’s a 500 kg (1,100 pounds) air bomb.”
Filashkin said the bomb was dropped at 17:20 local time (14:20 GMT).
Located 20 km (12 miles) from the frontline, northeast of Pokrovsk city – Dobropyria, the focus of Russia’s slow progress through the Donetsk region, has been the subject of other attacks since Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In March, rocket, drone and missile attacks killed 11 people in the town, including five children.
Russia has escalated drone and missile strikes across Ukraine in recent weeks, killing more than 230 civilians in June.
US President Donald Trump is increasingly irritated that his efforts to end the war have not reached a ceasefire or a major breakthrough.
Following a meeting with NATO Chief Mark Latte in Washington on Monday, Trump said he was “disappointed” with Vladimir Putin, and the fact that his “very great phone calls” with the Russian president often leads to airstrikes in Ukraine.
“After that, three or four times, the story doesn’t make any sense,” Trump said.
He warned that if the peace agreement is not reached within 50 days, he would impose severe sanctions on Moscow.
The US President has also announced that it will send “the best weapons” to Kiev through NATO countries to ensure that the US is “able to do what Ukraine wants to do.”
