Russian occupation authorities in Kherson, southern Ukraine, say an armed group was destroyed in fighting on Saturday evening in the center of this city, which is the target of a counter-offensive Ukrainian.
“In the center of Kherson, there was a clash between units of the Russian army patrolling the streets of the city and an unidentified group,” the occupation administration said on Telegram on Saturday evening.
“After a brief fight, the assailants were eliminated”, continued this source, specifying that no Russian soldier and no civilian had been injured.
On the Ukrainian side, the spokeswoman for the army’s southern command, Natalia Goumeniouk, denounced a “provocation”.
Speaking on a Ukrainian TV channel on Sunday morning, she said: “Yesterday’s shooting and explosions in Kherson are a provocation by the occupier.”
“We warned that provocations were going to take place between September 17 and 20. They are intended to tarnish the image of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” she added.
In Russia, public media Vesti published a video showing two armored vehicles surrounded by soldiers during the incident, on an avenue in the area of the Kherson railway station. On this video, one of the tanks opens fire with the machine gun, while other shots are heard.
Sunday morning, a cadre of the Russian occupation, Kirill Stremoussov, assured that the situation was “calm” in Kherson. “The Nazis are trying to attack, but without success,” he said on Telegram.
Since the end of August, Ukrainian troops have been leading a major offensive to retake the region and the city of Kherson, the country’s only regional capital, which fell into Russian hands in early March, a few days after the launch of the attack on the Kremlin.
Several cadres of the Russian occupation in the Kherson region, but also in other Ukrainian territories conquered by Moscow, have also been killed in targeted attacks in recent months.