People trapped under rubble after direct Ukrainian hit on apartment building in Donetsk

DONETSK, SANA- People got trapped under the rubble as a result of a Ukrainian shell directly hitting an apartment building in downtown Donetsk on Thursday morning, the administration of the Voroshilovsky district told TASS.

“A direct hit at the top floor at Naberezhnaya Street, 151. There are people under the rubble,” the administration noted. The emergency services are working on site. Information on casualties is being clarified.

According to local authorities, shells hit two apartment buildings with fire breaking out in one of them. “There are direct hits on Shkolny Boulevard and on Vatutina Avenue,” the local administration told TASS.

According to Donetsk Mayor Alexey Kulemzin, shells fell on several central streets as well as near a hospital and a student quarter. “There are fires and smoke. Windows and doors got blown out at kindergarten No. 15,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.

Earlier, a TASS correspondent reported a strike by Ukraine’s armed forces on downtown Donetsk, hitting several central streets and a market.

Additionally, shells hit the vicinity of the hotel Victoria damaging a number of apartment buildings.

On Thursday morning, Ukrainian troops delivered a massive strike on downtown Donetsk, launching 40 Grad rockets at the Voroshilovsky district. As the DPR’s mission at the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of issues related to Ukrainian war crimes (JCCC) told TASS, this was the heaviest shelling since the onset of the Donbass conflict.

Source: TASS