Russia is acting to thwart Ukrainian attacks on civilians, infrastructure -Kremlin

[January 22, 2024]  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is taking all "necessary measures" to defend its citizens and key infrastructure from Ukrainian attacks, the Kremlin said on Monday, a day after Moscow accused Kyiv's forces of killing 27 people in shelling of a Russian-held city in eastern Ukraine.

Also on Sunday Russian company Novatek was forced to suspend some operations at a huge Baltic Sea fuel export terminal after what Ukrainian media said was the latest in a series of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy facilities.

"The (Russian) Ministry of Defence, our air defence assets, other relevant agencies are taking necessary measures to protect against this kind of terrorist attack," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a regular news briefing.

"The Kyiv regime is continuing to show its vicious side in that they are striking civilian infrastructure. They are striking people, civilians," he said, branding Sunday's attack on the city of Donetsk a "heinous act of terrorism".

Russian-installed officials in Donetsk said the attack, which also injured 25 people, had hit a busy area where shops and a market are located.

Ukrainian forces said on Sunday they did not bear responsibility for the death of people on occupied territory and blamed Russia for the heavy loss of life.

Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed or injured by Russian air strikes and shelling since President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of soldiers into Ukraine nearly two years ago.

A view shows flowers at a market, which were brought by people in memory of victims killed by recent shelling, what local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike and later announced a day of mourning, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, January 22, 2024. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

Moscow said Sunday's incident was the second serious Ukrainian attack on civilians in less than a month. In December, Russia said 25 people, including five children, were killed during a Ukrainian missile and drone attack on the western Russian city of Belgorod.

Monday was an official day of mourning in the Donetsk region - one of four Ukrainian regions which Russia claims to have annexed since February 2022, in a move Kyiv and its Western allies say is illegal.

Kyiv has prioritised the domestic production of long-range drones, allowing it to strike targets deep inside Russia regardless of misgivings in the West about such attacks.

The head of Ukraine's main military industry manufacturer said in November that Ukraine had established serial production of "kamikaze" drones with a combat range of 1,000 kilometres (621 miles).

Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of waging an unprovoked war of aggression aimed at seizing land. Moscow says what it calls a "special military operation" is purely defensive and is aimed at bolstering Russian security against a hostile West.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Gareth Jones)

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