Ukraine Blames Russia-Backed Separatists for Shelling in Eastern Ukraine

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, blamed Russia for a “severe violation” of the tenuous cease-fire agreement in the region, while Mr. Zelensky described it as “provocative shelling.”

The Kremlin was taking a different line. “We have warned many times that excessive concentration of Ukrainian forces near the contact line, together with possible provocations, can pose terrible danger,” President Vladimir V. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said. He added that he hoped Western countries would warn Kyiv against a “further escalation of tensions.”

The Russian-backed separatists also blamed the Ukrainian army. Leonid Pasechnik, the head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, said the Ukrainian army had shelled civilians early Thursday — a claim that could not be independently verified.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, has said about a quarter of the inhabitants in the separatist regions — that would be 750,000 out of about three million — are Russian citizens. A strike that wounds or kills a Russian citizen could elevate the risk of a Russian response.

To highlight what it called reckless firing into civilian areas, the Ukrainian military flew reporters to the site of the damaged kindergarten. The strike also knocked out electricity and sent residents scrambling into basements to seek cover.

The Ukrainian military said a 122-millimeter artillery shell had hit the school, spraying cinder blocks into a play area for toddlers that was empty at the time.

Artillery and small-arms fire are common along the frontline, where an international monitoring group typically reports dozens to hundreds of cease-fire violations every day in recent years. Homes, schools, administrative buildings and infrastructure including electrical pylons are often damaged. Earlier this year, the Ukrainian authorities reported that a drone strike had hit an abandoned school in an eastern Ukrainian town.

Andrew E. Kramer reported from Stanytsia Luhanksa, Ukraine, and Valerie Hopkins from Kyiv. Maria Varenikova contributed reporting from Kyiv, and Ivan Nechepurenko from Moscow.