Russian forces shelled a market in Druzhkivka, Donetsk region, with cluster munitions and dropped two aerial bombs on the town on Wednesday, Feb. 4, killing at least seven people and injuring 15.
Vadym Filashkin, head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration (OVA), said on Telegram that the town – located about 11 miles from the front line – was struck directly at a busy morning market.
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“This is another targeted war crime and further proof that all Russian statements about a ‘truce’ are worthless,” Filashkin wrote.
Initial reports listed six fatalities, but the death toll later rose to seven. According to Filashkin, those killed were aged between 43 and 81, while the injured – aged 50 to 72 – were taken to hospital.
Emergency services are working at the scene, providing assistance to victims and clearing debris.
In a separate attack, Russia dropped two aerial bombs on Druzhkivka, damaging an industrial zone, three apartment buildings, and three private homes.
The strike came as negotiators from Ukraine, Russia, and the US were preparing to meet in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for another high-stakes attempt to end Europe’s deadliest war since World War II.
Talks are scheduled to run through Thursday, following months of stalled diplomacy nearly four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The meeting follows a massive Russian attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure just a day earlier, which left hundreds of thousands in Kyiv without power or heating amid freezing temperatures.
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The call comes days after top diplomats from both countries agreed bilateral relations could “break new ground” this year as Beijing and Moscow seek to ramp up economic cooperation.
“Each such Russian strike confirms that attitudes in Moscow have not changed,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday, adding that Ukraine would adjust its negotiating approach.
After the first Ukraine-Russia contacts under a US-led peace effort in Abu Dhabi on Jan. 23–24, Zelensky said talks remain deadlocked due to fundamentally different visions of ending the war.
Ukraine’s delegation will be led by National Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov, while Russia is sending military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov. The US side was previously headed by President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff.
This round of talks was postponed from last weekend due to what the Kremlin described as scheduling issues.