Red Cross facility hit by shelling in Donetsk as war rages

An office building of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Donetsk was struck by shelling this week as the war in Ukraine rages on for a 10th month, according to officials.

Fox News Digital could not immediately reach the ICRC for comment on the extent of the damage caused or which side is believed to have levied the strike, though no one was reported killed or injured in Monday’s attack.

“The shell, which landed in the yard of the ICRC office in Donetsk late Monday, was the third incident affecting the wider Red Cross family in recent days,” the ICRC said in a statement.

Red Cross workers embrace each other after a resupply mission to residents who cannot leave their homes in Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 22, 2022. 
(Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times  )

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On Sunday, two people were killed and several others injured after an ICRC-supported hospital in Donetsk was also hit with a strike.

A volunteer with the Ukrainian Red Cross emergency response team in Kherson was also killed during shelling last week, the statement added. 

“The ICRC strongly condemns the effects of the hostilities on our office and calls for respect of the humanitarian space,” ICRC said. “Under international humanitarian law, parties have an obligation to take all feasible precautions to avoid harming civilians and damaging civilian objects, including humanitarian facilities.”

Red Cross workers load supplies into a vehicle before going for a mission in Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 24, 2022. 
(Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times)

Fox News could not immediately confirm the location of the attack Monday, though Russian state-owned media reported that the strike occurred in the Kalinins’kyi district in the city of Donestk, located in the heart of the region. 

The U.K. Defense Ministry on Wednesday assessed that Ukrainian forces have repelled Russian troops and pushed the front lines further east toward the regional capital city. 

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Heavy fighting continues around the village of Pisky, roughly six miles from the city of Donetsk, in what is considered “contested territory.”

The city of Donetsk sits in the Donbas region where Russian-backed and self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics have engaged in armed conflict with the Ukrainian government since 2014. 

Red Cross workers arrive to deliver aid to residents in Eastern Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 23, 2022. 
(Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times  )

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In the lead-up to his invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as “independent” from Kyiv before he then annexed Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in September. 

If Ukrainian troops are able to repel Russian forces back into the city of Donetsk, it will be the first time they will have gained traction across the Donbas lines since the war began 10 months ago.