“The first building of the University of Economics and Trade is on fire as a result of the latest attack on Donetsk,” the Russian-controlled city in eastern Ukraine.
There were no people inside the building during the bombardment, in which a hundred firefighters are working, equipped with 12 water tanks and three ladders.
Ukrainian forces used cluster munitions in the shelling that caused the fire, said Alexei Kostrubitsky, the Russian-installed emergencies minister for the region Moscow calls the Donetsk People's Republic.
Ukraine, which received supplies of US cluster munitions last month, has vowed to use them only to clear concentrations of enemy soldiers.
Cluster munitions have been used by both sides in the course of the war in Ukraine, which has lasted 17 months.
Russian forces claimed to have destroyed two drones over the Briansk region, bordering Ukraine and Belarus, which has been the scene of multiple attacks by Ukrainian forces and pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups.
For its part, Russia launched a multi-wave strike overnight against Ukraine, using 70 air assault weapons, including three cruise and hypersonic missiles and Iranian-made drones, the Kiev Air Force said Sunday.
It was not immediately clear if damage was done in the overnight attack or what happened to the 10 cruise missiles that were not shot down and were targeting the Khmelnytskiy region and its Starokostiantyniv military airfield.
Russia launched a multi-wave strike overnight against Ukraine, using 70 air assault weapons, including cruise and hypersonic missiles and Iranian-made drones, the Kiev Air Force said on Sunday.
The Air Force – which is a public holiday on Sunday – said on the Telegram messaging channel that Ukraine's air defense destroyed 30 of the 40 cruise missiles and 27 Shahed drones that Russia launched overnight, according to Reuters.
“In total, in several waves of attacks, from the night of August 5 to the morning of August 6, 2023, the enemy used 70 means of air assault weapons,” the Air Force said.
He also said that Russia launched three Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, but declined to disclose more information about them.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the report.. There was no immediate comment from Russia.
It was not immediately clear if any damage was sustained in the overnight attack or what happened to the 10 cruise missiles that were not shot down.
Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian national radio television that one of the main targets of the overnight Russian attack was the Khmelnytskiy region.
“Now it is the Starokostiantyniv airfield that the enemy is stalking,” Ihnat declared.
Russia had already attacked the Starokostiantyniv military airfield in the Khmelnytskiy region at the end of July.
Russia's air defense system destroyed two drones over the Karachevskyi district in the Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, governor of Russia's border region with Ukraine, said on Sunday.
“There were no damages or victims,” Bogomaz said on the Telegram channel, collects Reuters.
It was unclear who launched the drones, and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.. kyiv rarely publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.
Russian authorities say the Briansk region, which borders Ukraine and Belarus, has been the scene of multiple attacks by Ukrainian forces and pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups in the 17 months since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Flames engulfed the wooden roof of a university building in Donetsk following a Ukrainian shelling on Saturday, an emergency official in the Russian-controlled city in eastern Ukraine said.
“As a result of the latest attack on Donetsk, the first building of the University of Economics and Commerce is on fire,” Alexei Kulemzin, the Russian-installed mayor, said on Telegram, Reuters reported.
“We are using 12 water tanks, three ladders and 100 firefighters,” said Alexei Kostrubitsky, the Russian-installed emergencies minister for the region Moscow calls the Donetsk People's Republic.
“The whole roof is on fire.”
Kostrubitsky said Ukrainian forces used cluster munitions in the shelling that caused the fire.. Reuters could not independently verify the information.. Cluster munitions have been used by both sides in the course of Russia's 17-month invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine, which received supplies of US cluster munitions last month, has vowed to use them only to clear concentrations of enemy soldiers.
Ukraine had no immediate comment on the alleged bombing.. Both sides deny having attacked civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Kostrubitsky claimed that there were no people inside the building during the shelling.
Moscow announced on Saturday that it will launch retaliatory action for the Ukrainian attack with marine drones on a Russian tanker the previous night in the Black Sea near Crimea, in the second incursion of its kind in a single day.
Hours earlier, on the same Friday, Ukraine had attacked an important Russian port.
Moscow strongly condemned what it called a Ukrainian “terrorist attack” against a civilian ship in the Kerch Strait, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
“Nothing can justify such barbaric actions; they will not go unchallenged and their perpetrators and perpetrators will inevitably be punished,” Sakharova wrote on the Telegram messaging app, AP reports.
As Ukraine has increased its naval capabilities, the Black Sea has become an increasingly important theater of battle in the war.
Three weeks ago, Moscow withdrew from a crucial export deal that allowed Ukraine to ship millions of tons of grain across the Black Sea to international markets.
Following that decision, Russia launched repeated attacks on Ukrainian ports, including Odessa.