The separatist Donetsk People’s Republic has accused Ukrainian militants of being responsible for the death of a five-year-old child who was allegedly killed during shelling.

The allegations have not been independently verified and the press office for the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has claimed that the incident took place in Makiivka, an industrial city in eastern Ukraine within the hotly contested Donetsk Oblast region.

The distressing and graphic footage, released by the DPR on Tuesday, 31st May, purports to show the aftermath of the alleged incident, which the DPR says took place on Beregovaya street.

The images appear to show the body of a child lying under a bloodstained sheet, with damage to buildings surrounding a courtyard.

Unconfirmed reports from separatist and Russian media state that the victim was a five-year-old girl called Mira.

The images, released by the DPR’s press office, show an elderly woman screaming: “We were sitting peacefully and watching cartoons.

“I can’t handle this! We didn’t ask for anything!

“Nothing! Just return our (dead) child!”

A woman named only as Makiivka resident Natalia then says: “Everything was chaotic and then everything started to happen, we didn’t understand it in the beginning, we heard only: ‘Lie down! Lie down!'”

She adds: “When we were running away, we saw smoke, somebody was screaming. At first we were afraid to go out, to find out, and later we knew that five shells landed.”

She said: “They did not aim, they just shot everywhere.”

Russian troops invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 99th day of the war.

From 24th February to 1st June, the total combat losses of Russian troops stand at around 30,700 personnel, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military also claims that Russia has lost 1,361 tanks, 3,343 armoured fighting vehicles, 659 artillery systems, 207 multiple launch rocket systems, 94 anti-aircraft systems, 208 warplanes, 175 helicopters, 2,290 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, 13 vessels, 519 unmanned aerial vehicles, 49 units of special equipment, and 120 cruise missiles.

In recent news, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Russian strikes on a nitric acid tank in the besieged eastern city of Sievierodonetsk “madness”.

Residents of Sievierodonetsk have been warned to remain in bomb shelters and to prepare masks to protect against toxic fumes as the fighting intensifies.

Analysts say up to 70 per cent of the city is now controlled by invading Russian forces, with almost all critical infrastructure and housing destroyed.

The Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a statement on Wednesday, 1st June at 6 AM, that the Yars mobile missile systems, which can carry nuclear warheads and which boast a reported range of over 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles), were performing “intensive manoeuvring operations on combat patrol routes in the Ivanovo Region”, east of the Russian capital Moscow.

This comes after United States President Joe Biden said he will send Kyiv more advanced rocket systems that will help to strike enemy forces from a longer distance. These rocket systems have double the range of the rocket systems used by Russian forces and are said to be much more accurate.