Tragically, among the injured were two children and a pregnant woman, underscoring the indiscriminate nature of the assault.

Furthermore, the assault inflicted significant damage to nearly 20 residential buildings and critical infrastructure, compounding the already dire situation.

The utilisation of cluster munitions in the attack violates international norms outlined in the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a treaty aimed at curbing such atrocities. However, the absence of signatures from either side, including the United States, highlights the glaring gaps in enforcing such agreements.

In a separate development, Russian officials claimed success in intercepting a substantial missile and drone onslaught by Ukraine in Crimea. Sergey Aksyonov, the Kremlin-appointed civilian authority in the occupied region, cautioned against approaching potential unexploded ordnance.

While Russian military bloggers asserted that the targets primarily comprised airfields, the closure and subsequent reopening of the vital bridge linking Crimea to Russia underscored the logistical challenges posed by such incidents.

Despite Russia's assertions of successfully thwarting the assault with US-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems, Ukraine's response remains undisclosed, leaving the veracity of the claims uncertain. The scarcity of visual evidence depicting the explosions further complicates efforts to ascertain the full extent of the incident, CNN reported.