Russia continues airstrikes targeting Ukraine's Donetsk region

By Davit Kachkachishvili

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AA) – Russian missiles damaged several buildings in eastern Ukraine's Druzhkivka city on early Saturday.

After Russian forces claimed the full control over the Lysychansk city in the Luhansk region, the attacks have intensified on the Ukrainian cities of Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka in the Donetsk region.

A shopping mall, humanitarian aid center, playground, and some other buildings were damaged in Druzhkivka after Russia fired four missiles, a local police chief told Anadolu Agency.

Intensity of attacks on the city is increasing as the battlefield is getting closer to the city center, said the police chief.

Donetsk and Luhansk – both part of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, bordering Russia – were the scene of a Russian-backed insurgency starting in 2014, when Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the “independence” of Donetsk and Luhansk just before starting the Ukraine war on Feb. 24.

As with Crimea, all of Donbas is still internationally recognized as Ukrainian territory, and the country’s armed forces continue to fight for it.​​​​​​​

Nearly 4,900 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, according to UN figures.

Over 15 million people have been forced to flee their homes, including more than 8.4 million that have fled to other countries.