The death toll from Ukrainian army shelling of the town of Tokmak in southern Ukraine’s Zaporozhye region has risen to 16, a Russian-appointed official said on Sunday.

Yevgeny Balitsky, the top Moscow-appointed official in the region, said on the Telegram messaging app that 20 people were injured in Friday night’s shelling, 12 of them seriously.

Reuters could not independently verify the account of the incident. Ukraine has yet to comment on the alleged attack.

Zaporozhye is one of four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Russian forces, which Moscow annexed after launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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