Ukrainian forces shelled the Russian-controlled eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk overnight in some of the biggest attacks for years, Russian-installed officials in the annexed areas said on Thursday.
"At exactly 7.00 o'clock this morning they subjected the centre of Donetsk to the most massive attack since 2014," Alexei Kulemzin, the Russian-backed mayor of the city, said on Telegram.
"Forty rockets from BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers were fired at civilians in our city," Kulemzin said. He cast the attack as a war crime.
Reuters was unable to immediately verify Kulemzin's account of what happened, and there was no immediate response to his comments from Ukrainian officials.
Kulemzin told Russian state TV that preliminary information indicated that five people had been hurt in the shelling, including a child.
Video footage released by Russia's state RIA news agency showed smoke rising from damaged buildings, debris-strewn yards and streets, burnt out cars, and what appeared to be a blood stain on a pavement next to someone's hat.
Firefighters were seen dousing flames.
Kulemzin, the mayor, said a kindergarten, a school, a university, a student hospital and a cathedral had been damaged in the attack.
(Reporting by Guy FaulconbridgeEditing by Andrew Osborn)
