At least five people were killed Monday in a Russian-backed Ukrainian state of Donetsk, where officials say opposition groups have said there was an outbreak of gunfire in Ukraine.
Russian officials and Russian media outlets have reported a number of Ukrainian weapons strikes, including on the market. Russian news outlets later reported that the shell had fallen on a maternity hospital in the city of Donetsk, sparking a fire that led to staff sending patients to the basement.
There was no immediate confirmation of the attack and Reuters could not immediately be reached for comment. There was no immediate response from Kyiv to these reports.
The Russian news agency TASS said independent officials had reported the deaths of five. Donetsk Separatist leader Denis Pushilin has vowed to mobilize more Russian troops to fight Ukraine.
Russian agencies have reported that a child has been killed and at least 22 people have been injured. On Monday evening, quoting a Russian journalist, they reported the shooting of a maternity hospital.
"Thanks to the swift action of the workers, no one was injured," RIA media reported.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said officials had seen reports of the attack on the hospital.
"This is very worrying," Dujarric said. "Any attack on human infrastructure, especially health facilities, is a clear violation of international law."
Donetsk News Agency has previously shown pictures of burning shops in the Maisky market with a few corpses on the ground.
"We have been very affected by the market - there have been a lot of people here," Yan Gagin, an independent government adviser, told RIA media.
Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that the immediate reason for what he called "special military operations" in Ukraine is to protect Russian-speaking people in the two Donbas regions from persecution and attacks by Ukraine.
Ukraine has always denied making any attacks in two states, Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, where the perpetrators took over much of the world in 2014.
Ukraine and its Western allies say Russia is fighting an independent state.
Russia denies targeting civilian sites in its war effort, although the attack has left thousands injured and destroyed all Ukrainian cities.
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