The shelling by Ukraine of the Russian city of Donetsk on Sunday, which claimed the lives of at least 25 civilians and wounded 20 others, was “a barbaric terrorist act” carried out with the support of the West, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has said.

Sunday’s bombardment of a busy market in the capital of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic was inflicted with weapons supplied to Kiev by the US and its allies, the ministry said in a statement.

“This again confirms [the West’s] direct involvement in the conflict and makes it complicit in the criminal acts of the Zelensky regime, which has once again displayed its inhumanity and hatred towards innocent people,” it said.

“The West’s unrestrained desire to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ on Russia through the hands of their Ukrainian puppets, whom it is eager to support mindlessly and without limit, is pushing the Kiev regime to increasingly reckless steps, including acts of terrorism, massive violations of international humanitarian law, and war crimes,” the ministry added.

Russia has called on governments and international bodies to condemn this “treacherous attack on the civilian population,” it stated. Failure to do so would be a sign of “silent approval of the murders of civilians” that would only encourage Kiev “to commit even more bloody atrocities,” it also pointed out.

All those involved in the shelling of Donetsk and in other “terrorist attacks” on Russia will face “an inevitable punishment,” the ministry warned, adding that the “desperate strikes” clearly demonstrate the lack of political will on the part of the Ukrainian authorities to search for peace through diplomatic means.

“The need to achieve all of the goals and objectives of Russia’s military operation is obvious. Security threats and acts of terrorism shouldn’t be committed from the territory of Ukraine,” it said.

Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, wrote on Telegram that the attack on Donetsk, which he described as a “another heinous crime” by Ukraine, will “undoubtedly” become one of the main topics of discussion during the UN Security Council meeting on Monday. Russia had requested the UNSC meeting several days ago, to discuss deliveries of Western weapons to the Kiev government.