Russian strike kills eight in Lysychansk: governor

KYIV: A Russian strike killed at least eight civilians in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk Monday as they were out collecting water, said the governor of Lugansk region, Sergiy Gaiday.

It follows deadly strikes earlier Monday on a shopping centre in the central city of Kremenchuk, and in the eastern city of Kharkiv, as Ukrainian officials accuse Moscow of deliberately targetting civilians.

“Today in Lysychansk, the Russians fired on a crowd of people with Uragan multiple rocket-launchers, as civilians were collecting water from a cistern,” Gaiday posted on Telegram.

“Eight residents are dead, 21 have been taken to hospital.”

Lysychansk is the next target of Russian forces in their bid to take total of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas territory, made of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions.

Over the weekend, they captured its twin city, Severodonetsk, after weeks of fierce fighting.

Earlier Monday, a Russian strike on the crowded shopping centre in Kremenchuk killed at least 10 people, wounding more than 40 others. Regional governor Dmytro Lunin warned that the death toll could rise.

The Ukrainian defence ministry said the Kremenchuk strike was deliberately timed to coincide with the mall’s busiest hours and cause the maximum number of victims.

The strike in Kharkiv killed four people and wounded 19 others, including four children, said Oleg Synegubov, the head of Kharkiv’s regional administration.

“The enemy is deliberately terrorising the civilian population,” he said in a statement on Telegram.