Russia has accused the Ukrainian military of deliberately attacking a hospital in a Russian-controlled part of eastern Ukraine in what it calls a war crime that left 14 people dead, 24 patients and medical staff injured. love.
There was no immediate response to the allegations from Ukraine on Saturday.
The attack hit a hospital in the Russian-controlled settlement of Novoaidar and was carried out with a HIMARS missile supplied by the US launch system, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“A deliberate missile attack on an operating civilian medical facility is undoubtedly a serious war crime by the Kiev regime,” it said. “All those involved in the planning and execution of this crime will be found and held accountable.”
Civilian and military medical personnel worked in the hospital for months treating locals and soldiers, it said.
Ukraine and its Western allies have accused Russian forces of regularly committing war crimes during the conflict that has left thousands of civilians dead and cities and towns reduced to rubble by shelling and air strikes. . Russia denies targeting civilians.
‘One more sin’
Meanwhile, three people have been killed and more than a dozen others injured after a Russian attack on the city of Konstanynivka in eastern Ukraine, the local governor said on Saturday.
Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on social media: “The Russians opened fire on a residential area, damaging four multi-storey buildings, a hotel, a garage and civilian cars.
Kyrylenko said rescuers and police were on the scene, “helping people and carefully documenting another crime committed by the Russian occupiers on our land”.
Pictures posted on Kyrylenko’s Telegram account show apartment buildings with blown windows and debris scattered around the remains of a charred car.
According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Russia carried out attacks on Konstanynivka with multiple rocket launchers.
Almost a year in Invasion of UkraineMoscow is seeking to gain control of the entire Donetsk region, which it claims is part of Russia.
‘Deliberate destruction of town’
Ukraine said this week that the Russian military has intensified its attacks in the east, especially on the towns of Vugledar and Bakhmut.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the battles near Bakhmut and Vuhledar, 200km (90 miles) south, as “extremely intense”.
“The occupiers are not only storming our positions, they are also deliberately and methodically destroying the towns and villages around them,” he said.
Ukraine’s military is fighting fiercely with Russian troops for control of Vuhledar as the two sides fight along the southern front. Both sides claim success in the small administrative center of apartment blocks surrounded by flat fields.
“The encirclement and subsequent liberation of this city solved many problems,” said Denis Pushilin, the leader of the Donetsk region appointed by Moscow.
But Kyiv said the town, which had a population of about 15,000 before the invasion, remains disputed. Ukrainian military spokesman Sergiy Cherevaty told local media: “There was a fierce fighting there.
‘Determined strategic action’
Bloomberg News reports that Russia is seeking to demonstrate that its military can change the dynamics of the war after months of defeat on the battlefield by launching an all-out offensive.
It quoted unnamed Russian officials and advisers like saying that the goal was to achieve quick victories to gain control of the eastern regions that had been merged last year to strengthen Moscow’s hand in any future peace talks.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) agreed with the report.
“This report is in line with ISW’s current assessment and forecast that the Kremlin is likely to prepare to launch a decisive strategic action – most likely in Luhansk Oblast – in the next six months to win the take the initiative and end Ukraine’s current successful streak,” it said.
“The ISW has previously assessed that the decisive strategic action in Luhansk Oblast could be a major offensive or a defensive operation by Russia to defeat and exploit a Ukrainian counterattack.”
A Ukrainian official said it was possible that Russia would launch a major offensive near the anniversary of the start of the war last year.
“It is no secret that they are preparing for a new wave on February 24,” said Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council. told Free radio on Fridays.
The goal is to capture the entire Donbas – Donetsk and Lugansk – and then “completely beyond the borders of the regions”, says Danilov.
