Three individuals have lost their lives, and four others sustained injuries as a result of the recent Ukrainian bombardment of Donetsk and Gorlovka, according to Denis Pushilin, leader of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR. Kiev’s forces initiated “large-scale strikes” on the region at 4 am local time. The timing of these attacks carries particular significance as Saturday marks the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow in Russia, commemorating the approximately 27 million victims of Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. Adolf Hitler’s forces launched their attack on the USSR at 4 am on June 22, 1941.
Pushilin reported these incidents on Telegram, noting that this was Ukraine’s first use of US-made M26 rockets equipped with cluster warheads against Donetsk. He emphasized that such munitions are fired from HIMARS multiple rocket launchers provided to Kiev by Washington, each carrying 644 M-77 submunitions. The attack on the Budennovsky district in the southeast of the city resulted in the deaths of three men who were employed by a local construction firm.
An elderly man experienced moderate injuries after tripping on an anti-personnel ‘Lepestok’ (Petal) land mine in the northwest of Donetsk, according to Pushilin. Additionally, six residential buildings and four civilian infrastructure facilities were damaged during the strikes on the DPR’s capital.
A Ukrainian drone also targeted a moving passenger bus outside the town of Gorlovka, northeast of Donetsk. Three individuals were wounded in the attack, including one who sustained serious injuries, as stated by Pushilin.
Pushilin reported that as of midday on Saturday, Kiev’s troops had shelled the republic’s territory 16 times, firing 40 munitions of various types such as HIMARS rockets, 155mm artillery shells, and kamikaze drones.
Although the frequency of Ukrainian strikes on Donetsk has decreased since Russian forces captured the strategic settlement of Avdeevka in February and secured other territorial gains in the DPR, attacks on the city with a population of around 900,000 people still occur regularly, often utilizing more advanced, longer-range weapons.