MOSCOW: Russian-installed officials on Friday said Kyiv’s army hit a shopping centre in the Moscow-controlled part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, wounding at least seven.

Images showed a large fire raging at a shopping centre with thick grey smoke billowing from the building.

Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed Donetsk governor said in a post on Telegram: “The enemy has been carrying out targeted massive strikes on the Petrovsky district” on the outskirts Donetsk city, which is under Russia’s control.

One strike hit the Galaktika shopping centre, wounding at least seven people, he said.

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Information about those wounded was still coming in, Pushilin said, adding that the fire had engulfed an area of more than 10,000 square metres.

Russian forces control parts of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, where the heaviest fighting of the conflict has taken place.

In 2022 Russia claimed to annex the region, despite not having full control over it, drawing outrage in Kyiv and the West.

Strikes and casualties on both sides of the frontlines in Donetsk are a daily occurence.

A Russian missile strike on a supermarket in the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk region last week killed at least 14 people, Ukrainian officials said.