At least 27 people were killed on Sunday by shelling at a market on the outskirts of the city of Donetsk in Russian-occupied Ukraine, local officials reported.

Moscow-installed officials claimed the alleged Ukrainian attack wounded 25 others.

Among the injured in the suburb of Tekstilshchik were two children, said Denis Pushilin, the local leader.

Ukrainian officials in Kyiv did not comment on the incident.

Euronews could not independently verify these claims.

Both sides have increasingly relied on longer-range attacks this winter amid largely unchanged positions on the 1,500km front line in the nearly 2-year-old war.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “strongly condemns all attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, including today’s shelling of the city of Donetsk in Ukraine,” according to a U.N. spokesperson, adding that all such attacks are prohibited under international humanitarian law.

Donetsk is one of four regions in Ukraine that Russia annexed illegally in 2022, months after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion.

Russia's Foreign Ministry also blamed Ukraine and described the strike as a “terrorist attack.”