Most people who follow the news from Ukraine have likely been focused on the Ukrainian army's "thunder run" on Vladivostok, which has taken a small town whose name looks like something like "Sudsy" or "Sudzy" (Sudzha) but hasn't made it to Putingrad or St. Putinsburg yet... (the recent Ukrainian invasion of Russia, or maybe it should be called a "special military operation" or a “counter-terrorism operation”, which I've read are the local euphemisms for invasion and war)

...but among all of the news from the Kursk and Belgorad regions of the territory internationally recognized as Russia (where there have not been widespread reports in the international news of indiscriminate killing of civilians or mass looting) there was a reminder about a large city in the territory internationally recognized as Ukraine but not under the control of the Ukrainian government in Kyiv that has been suffering the effects of military action for the last ten years or so.



https://www.aljazeera.com/news/live.....pons-destroyed
https://aje.io/o24vtv?update=3122234

Here’s what happened today

We’ll be closing this live page soon but before we do, here’s a recap of the day’s main events:
...Russian state news agencies say at least two people have been killed and more injured when Ukrainian shelling hit a shopping centre in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

https://aje.io/o24vtv?update=3122063
Photos: Fires engulf shopping centre in Donetsk after air raids

https://aje.io/o24vtv?update=3121885
Multiple injuries in Donetsk shopping centre attack
A we reported earlier, at least two people have been killed in an attack targeted a shopping centre in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk.
At least seven people were wounded in the attack on the Galaxy shopping centre in Petrovsky district, TASS news agency reported, citing operational services.

https://aje.io/o24vtv?update=3121846
Two killed in shelling of shopping centre in Donetsk
Russian state news agencies, citing local authorities, say that at least two people have been killed and more injured after Ukrainian shelling hit a shopping centre in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk.
“Preliminarily there is information about at least two dead,” TASS news agency quoted local operational services as saying, adding that the death toll could rise.
The RIA news agency published a video of huge clouds of smoke rising from what it said was the “Galaktika” shopping centre.



https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c8dpg.....19ac68082#post

At least seven injured in Donetsk strike

^{published at 16:33 British Summer Time [16:33 BST]}
A building is on fire with lots of black smoke rising from it. A man wearing a red t shirt and black backpack looks on at the fire while stood next to a bikeImage source, Reuters
Image caption,

The BBC has seen unverified pictures claiming to show a shopping centre in Donetsk damaged by shelling

At least seven people have been injured in central Donetsk following a Ukrainian strike that caused a fire in a shopping centre, news agencies are reporting.

The city - currently under Russian military control - has been shelled by Ukraine since late this morning, according to Denis Pushilin, the Russia-backed governor of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.^†

"Since 12 noon today, the enemy has been carrying out targeted massive strikes on the Petrovsky district of the regional capital. According to preliminary information, seven civilians, including a teenager, were wounded," Pushilin said in a statement on Telegram.

Here are a few more mentions:

1) The Moscow Times: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024.....donetsk-a86046 -- Russia Says Ukraine Struck Shopping Mall in Occupied Donetsk
2) Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/world/europ.....ys-2024-08-16/ -- Ukrainian strikes on Donetsk capital wound seven people, Russian official says
3) AP: https://apnews.com/article/russia-u.....6f20080ab133e7 -- (one sentence near the bottom) "...And in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk, a hypermarket was destroyed in a blaze after being hit by Ukrainian fire, according to local officials. Eleven people were reported injured."
4) Al Jazeera (evening): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024.....events-day-904 -- "At least two people were killed and more injured after Ukrainian shelling hit a shopping centre in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, Russian state news agencies cited local authorities as saying. Earlier, Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed governor^†, said that a series of Ukrainian attacks wounded at least seven people."
^†Note: Al-Jazeera did a better job of describing Denis Pushilin's current position as "the Russian-installed governor" of Donetsk, the BBC's description of him as "the Russia-backed governor of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic" is very out of date.
{send me a Note if you find another good reference in a major media source}



_{There's no way to know exactly what happened (and I'm sure if anyone cares to search there will be all the usual claims and counterclaims), but the international media didn't just totally ignore the reports from the local government in Donetsk.}

...

Any mention of missile attacks on shopping centers (which there have been plenty of in Ukraine by the Russian military) would be remiss to not at least mention the missile attack a week ago that killed over a dozen civilians in the Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka that is near the frontlines in the eastern province (Oblast) of Donetsk but in the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government in Kyiv: https://www.theguardian.com/world/a.....ng-at-least-14 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWuMji5h1Qo (which did get covered more widely and prominently by western news media).

Of course Donetsk isn't the only place in the territory internationally recognized as Ukraine that had problems yesterday, see  Carota17's Journal for what it is like in Dnipro.

Finally, here's a couple of Ukrainians living in Georgia who aren't having their sleep disturbed by explosions but still need some help: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/57767110/  UrielUlysses

...

_{I initially disabled Comments for a while since these sorts of reminders can draw distracting and conflicting claims and counterclaims. I opened up Comments after a couple of days after there has been more time for additional reporting to appear in reputed media sources. While I don't make a FA Journal for every time a civilian target in the territory internationally recognized as Ukraine gets hit by a missile or artillery, I'm trying to be somewhat fair about mentioning some of the ones that occur in the territory that is currently controlled by the government in Moscow.}