(Kyiv and Moscow) Nine Ukrainians including four children were injured Saturday in a Russian bombardment in the city of Voznesensk, located not far from a nuclear power plant in the Mykolaiv region, said regional governor Vitaly Kim.
Posted at 7:31 a.m.
Updated at 9:02 a.m.
Aged three to 17, “the children are all in serious condition,” Mr Kim wrote on Telegram, which said a girl lost an eye in the attack.
Voznesensk is about twenty kilometers as the crow flies from the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Privdennooukraïnsk and some 70 kilometers from Mykolaiv.
The strike hit a residential building and several houses in Voznesensk, which has around 30,000 inhabitants, the State Emergency Service said on Facebook, posting images of a gutted building.
PHOTO STATE SERVICE FOR EMERGENCY SITUATIONS
The region of Mykolaiv, which regularly undergoes violent Russian bombardments, is close to that of Kherson, almost entirely occupied by Russian troops since Moscow launched its attack on Ukraine at the end of February.
“Voznesensk. The terrorist country called Russia hit a residential building,” the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration Andriy Iermak denounced on Telegram.
“Our task is to ensure that not only the current generation of Russians are held accountable but also their children and grandchildren. Russia will pay for everything,” he added.
The Ukrainian army also indicated in the morning on Telegram that it had shot down four Russian Kalibr-type cruise missiles near the city of Dnipro (Center-East) launched from the Black Sea, using a defense system anti-aircraft S-300.
The exiled mayor of Melitopol, a city in the Kherson region occupied by the Russians, Ivan Fedorov, for his part said in the morning on Telegram that the Ukrainians had bombed a Russian military base in this occupied city.
On the ground, the Ukrainian army has reported attempted Russian offensives, particularly in the Donetsk region, near the towns of Bakhmout, Zaïtsevé and Kodema. “The fighting continues,” said the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff in a statement in the morning.
Attack on Russian Fleet Headquarters
A drone attack on Saturday targeted the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, without causing injuries, said the governor of this city of the annexed peninsula of Crimea, Mikhail Razvojayev.
PHOTO REUTERS
“The drone was shot down just above the Fleet Headquarters, it fell on the roof and caught fire,” said Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvojayev.
“The drone was shot down just above the Fleet Headquarters, it fell on the roof and caught fire,” Razvojayev wrote on Telegram.
The incident “did not cause serious damage” or injuries, he said, blaming the attack on the Ukrainian forces.
This is the second drone attack against the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol in less than a month.
On July 31, a drone landed in the courtyard of the Fleet Headquarters, injuring five of its employees and causing the cancellation of all planned Russian Fleet Day festivities. celebrated that day.
PHOTO ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A drone attack took place at the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol on July 31.
Accused by Russia of being behind this attack, Ukraine then denied its involvement, calling these accusations “provocation”.
This new attack comes as explosions and attacks targeting Russian military infrastructure are increasing in Crimea.
Thursday evening, Russian forces shot down a drone near a military airfield in Sevastopol.
On Tuesday, explosions occurred at a military base and an ammunition depot in Crimea, with Russia calling them acts of “sabotage”.
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Smoke rises above an ammunition depot in the village of Mayskoye, in Crimea.
At the beginning of August, the explosion of ammunition intended for military aviation near the military airfield of Saki, in Crimea, caused one death and several injuries.
In addition, the anti-aircraft defense system was activated on Saturday in Evpatoria, in western Crimea, according to the governor of the peninsula, Sergei Aksionov.
The incident “did not cause any damage or injuries”, he assured on Telegram.
In the very first days of its offensive against Ukraine, Russia conquered part of southern Ukraine, notably the region of Kherson, located not far from the Crimea annexed in 2014.
In recent weeks, Ukrainian forces have returned to the offensive in the south to retake these lost territories and have had some success.