(Moscow) At least 23 people were killed and dozens more injured on Friday in several Ukrainian strikes targeting Russian-controlled areas in eastern and southern Ukraine, the occupation authorities said.

A double strike notably targeted the village of Sadové, in the southern region of Kherson, partially occupied by Russia.

“Following the bombing by Kyiv fighters of the village of Sadové […] a store with a significant number of visitors and employees was destroyed. Nineteen people died and five others were injured,” Vladimir Saldo, head of the region’s occupation, said on Telegram.

According to him, “after the first shot, residents of nearby houses ran out to help the victims, but shortly after, a HIMARS missile arrived.”

Two children were among those killed, said Mr. Saldo, denouncing a “vile murder of civilians” made possible by Western arms deliveries to Kyiv, and a double strike intended to “cause the most victims”.

Earlier on Friday, four people were killed and 57 injured by a strike by US-made ATACMS missiles on the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk, also under Russian control.

“The total number of people injured in today’s missile strike on Luhansk is 57. Four of them died,” local Health Minister Natalia Pashchenko said on social media .

According to the pro-Russian head of the Luhansk region, Leonid Passetchnik, two secondary schools, three nursery schools and a college were also damaged.

The Russian Defense Ministry, for its part, claimed that “five American-made ATACMS missiles” had “deliberately targeted residential areas in the city of Luhansk”.

Russia also claimed Friday, in another press release from its Defense Ministry, the capture of the village of Paraskoviïvka, in the Donetsk region, also in eastern Ukraine.

Paraskoviïvka is located about 30 kilometers southwest of Donetsk, the major Russian-held city in the eponymous region.

Russian troops have been gaining ground for months in the Donbass against a Ukrainian army lacking men and ammunition, and also launched an offensive in the Kharkiv region (north-east) on May 10, seizing several localities.

On the Ukrainian side, a 71-year-old woman was killed in a Russian strike in Nikopol, in the Dnipropetrovsk region (center-east), according to Governor Serguiï Lyssak.