Four dead and dozens injured after rocket fragments hit civilians in Russian-occupied Crimea

June 23 (UPI) – At least four people were killed and dozens injured when Russia shot down missiles fired from Ukraine over Sevastopol, Kremlin officials said.

Mikhail Razhayev, the city’s Russian-appointed mayor, said on Telegram that two children were among the dead and 82 people had been hospitalized.

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He later added that 35 medical specialists would be transported to the city to “assess the condition of the victims and assess the need and possibility of transporting patients.”

Russia’s Investigative Committee has also initiated criminal proceedings into the incident, he said, announcing that the incident would be investigated as a terrorist attack.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that Kiev fired five US missiles equipped with cluster warheads at Sevastopol on Sunday. Four of the missiles were intercepted, it said. The fifth detonated in mid-flight, sending shrapnel raining down on civilians.

The US is blamed for the attack. Telegram states: “All flight missions of the American operational-tactical ATACMS missiles are entered by American specialists based on US satellite reconnaissance data.”

“Therefore, responsibility for the targeted missile attack on civilians in Sevastopol lies primarily with Washington, which supplied Ukraine with these weapons, and with the Kyiv regime, from whose territory this attack was carried out.”

The ministry assured that “such measures will not go unanswered.”

In Sevastopol, Monday was declared dawn day, Rashayev said, adding that all entertainment events in the city had been cancelled.

Sevastopol is located in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The United States is Ukraine’s largest backer in the war against the Kremlin and has provided Kyiv with more than $50 billion in military aid since Russia’s invasion of the European country in February 2022, according to the U.S. State Department.

Fearing an escalation of the conflict, the United States had banned Ukraine from using its weapons on Russian territory. Late last month, however, US President Joe Biden gave the Kiev military permission to use the lethal weapons in limited attacks on military targets in Kremlin territory.