Thread by @ChristopherJM

Russia-backed forces shelled the music room of a kindergarten in far-eastern Stanytsia Luhanska, Luhansk region, at 9am this morning, according to local reports, local city admin, & NGO Proliska. Children were present but unharmed. Two teachers said to have suffered concussions.

The shelling comes amid a flurry of reports today from Russian state media & local Moscow-backed separatists on Telegram of Ukrainian shelling and provocations — none of which have been confirmed. The concern is that these may create a pretext for Moscow to launch a new attack.

Kyiv, the US, NATO, and Western governments have been warning for weeks and increasingly in recent days that Russia could stage "false flag" attacks to justify a new invasion of Ukraine. There is of course precedent for this in this eight-year war.

Vladimir Putin has repeatedly claimed falsely that Ukrainian forces are carrying out a "genocide" in the Donbas. His latest use of this term came just this week. These shelling reports are being spun by Russian propagandists as part of this "genocide." US has called Moscow out:

https://twitter.com/usosce/status/1493962541772509192

Two more photos from Stanytsia Luhanska, shared by Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation and confirmed through local news and NGO on the scene, show people taking shelter in a basement during the shelling and the aftermath of the school's music and play room that was hit by artillery.

Just received messages from two Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline in Donetsk region who say they have been under sporadic fire and targeted with mortars in the past hours. One is in Avdiivka. They say the scale isn't anything unusual; no casualties among their troops.

They're throwing everything for a potential pretext at the wall to see if it sticks. Here's a sample of headlines published just in the past hour from Russia-backed separatist info site, citing their "intelligence" agency. (All unconfirmed and dubious, to say the least.)

We often see these blown apart buildings after they're hit without people in the frame. Here is a before-and-after of the kindergarten school room blasted today, so you know whose lives were put at risk by this. Photos via local authorities and kindergarten's Facebook page.

More on this attack, with geolocation of the building and other important posts by @bellingcat's @EliotHiggins.

https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/1494233592913879041

Ukraine’s foreign minister confirms and condemns this morning’s artillery attack.

https://twitter.com/DmytroKuleba/status/1494251586939465732

"A diplomatic source said a longstanding monitoring mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe had recorded multiple shelling incidents along the line of contact in the early hours of Thursday." -Reuters reuters.com/world/europe/u…

Video from the frontline Ukrainian town of Mariinka, Donetsk region, with shelling roaring in the background. I’ve spent a lot of time there, can confirm/geolocate this to town center. Also spoke to a longtime friend there who said shelling happening “periodically since morning.”

Alexandra, the woman who filmed the previous video, tells me the shelling occurred mostly between 8-9am local time. She says it hasn’t been this intense “in a long time.” But it has since quited down. She has been huddled with others in a building for the past several hours.

In Mariinka, an elderly woman was wounded by shelling, which is believed to have come from Russia-backed forces, according to humanitarian group Proliska. She was taken to a hospital with shrapnel injuries to left hand and abdomen. Shelling hit near bus stop where she stood.

In Stanytsia Luhanska tonight, another artillery attack struck a residential home and caused a fire to break out. Emergency service workers put it out. Local authorities say nobody wounded. Much of the town without power though.

Read this thread from Brian on Stanytsia Luhanska for more on the town.

https://twitter.com/bmilakovsky/status/1494423743036366852