INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Updated with death toll.A strike on a crowded market in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine left at least 27 people dead
and dozens more wounded on Sunday, Moscow-backed officials said.Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of a sharp escalation in
attacks on civilian areas in the past two months.Shattered storefronts and broken glass could be seen in videos shared by Russian state
media, along with what appeared to be bodies lying on the ground nearby."Twenty-seven civilians were killed and another 25 people were
injured of varying severity, among them two teenagers," said Denis Pushilin, head of the region's Russian-controlled administration.He
blamed Ukraine for the strike, calling it a "horrific" attack on a civilian area.Ukraine did not immediately comment, and AFP was not able
to immediately verify the circumstances of the attack.Officials said the strike hit a southwestern suburb of the city, less than 15
kilometers from the eastern front.The toll marks one of the deadliest in Donetsk since Moscow launched full-scale hostilities against
Donetsk, occupied by Russia and its proxy forces since 2014, has been repeatedly targeted by what Moscow has called indiscriminate Ukrainian
shelling.Moscow called Sunday's attack a "barbaric terrorist attack" that showed the need for its "special military operation" in
Ukraine."Security threats and acts of terrorism should not be committed from the territory of Ukraine," its foreign ministry said.
