In the afternoon of August 16, the Ukrainian Armed Forces shelled the Galaktika shopping centre, full of visitors, in the Petrovsky District of Donetsk. An enormous fire erupted there. According to the preliminary information, there were more than 100 visitors inside the building at the moment of the Kiev regime’s terrorist attack, among them a lot of children. Right now, the fire has already covered 10,000 square metres. There is no data so far about the exact number of victims, including those killed, but even now it is clear that the numbers can be great, according to media reports and video recordings of the massive fire. The situation around the Galaktika shopping centre is aggravated by Ukrainian monsters’ attempts to use attack drones against rescue teams that arrived to extinguish the fire and doctors providing assistance to the wounded.

This vile attack on the shopping centre was an act of terrorism carefully planned by Ukrainian neo-Nazis and a gesture of desperation on the part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces amid the Russian troops’ confident advance along the battle contact line. Its goal was to kill civilians and spread panic. In addition, it is obvious that Kiev has received a carte blanche from its Western curators to commit as many atrocities as possible against the civilian population in order to undermine stability inside our country.

According to media reports and local residents, on the same day the Ukrainian Armed Forces blew up a bridge across the Seim River in the Glushkovsky District of Kursk Region. Attacks are being carried out against other civilian infrastructure. This is clearly done to complicate the evacuation of people from the combat zone. The Kiev regime makes civilian population its priority target.

However, the Kiev regime’s cruelty and terrorist methods have the opposite effect: our citizens are consolidating against the threat, and the number of volunteers willing to sign contracts with the Russian Defence Ministry and defend their homeland is only growing.

We strongly condemn the latest barbarous terrorist attacks by the Kiev regime. The Ukrainian criminals who shelled the shopping centre in Donetsk and carried out other attacks will be identified by the investigation and severely punished for their actions. Our response will be as tough as possible. We urge the world community and international organisations not to remain indifferent and condemn the mass murder of innocent civilians in Donetsk.