(Moscow) A Ukrainian ballistic missile attack left three dead, including two children, and around a hundred injured on Sunday in Sevastopol in Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed in 2014 by Russia, announced the governor installed by Moscow.
The Ukrainian army “hit Sevastopol in broad daylight with ballistic missiles with cluster munitions,” Mikhail Razvozhayev wrote on Telegram.
“The death toll stands at three people: we lost two children and one adult,” added the official.
“The number of injured is nearly 100,” he added.
Earlier, he said the air defense had destroyed “five air targets”.
“But debris from the downed targets fell on coastal areas,” he added.
Videos, published by Russian media, show residents on a beach fleeing when they hear explosions. AFP is unable to verify its authenticity.
The Russian Investigative Committee announced that it had opened an investigation to establish the circumstances of the strike.
The Russian Defense Ministry accused the United States of having “responsibility” for the strike, because it was allegedly carried out with ATACMS missiles, supplied by Washington to Kyiv.
“Responsibility for the deliberate missile strike against civilians in Sevastopol lies primarily with Washington, which supplied these weapons to Ukraine” as well as with the authorities in Kyiv, the ministry said in a statement.
“Such actions will not go unanswered,” he added.
Ukraine has not yet commented on the Sevastopol strike.
Sevastopol, a large port city, is often targeted, particularly because it is home to the headquarters of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.
Crimea constitutes an important logistical node for the Russian army.
Ukraine, faced with the Russian offensive for two years, regularly responds by attacking Russian regions or occupied zones.
His troops notably attempt to destroy Russian warships, and regularly succeed.
Among their feats of arms since the start of the conflict, Ukrainian forces bombarded the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet in September 2023, more than a year after managing to sink the Moskva, the flagship of the fleet. Russian, in spring 2022.
“Increase the pressure”
At the same time, a Russian strike left one dead and five injured on Sunday in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, according to the regional governor, Oleg Synegoubov.
PHOTO SERGEY BOBOK, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Residents react near a residential building destroyed by a Russian bomb explosion in central Kharkiv on June 22
The day before, other attacks using guided aerial bombs had already left two dead and around fifty injured, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
Kharkiv, very close to the Russian border, is very regularly bombed. Russia still denies targeting civilian targets in Ukraine and assures that it only attacks structures linked to the army.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is urging his allies to deliver more weapons and air defense systems, said Sunday that his forces had shot down two more Russian Kalibr-type missiles.
“Russian terror is not slowing down, so we must increase the pressure,” he warned.
“We have the determination to destroy terrorists on their territory – it is only fair – and we need our allies to share it,” he said.
At the end of May, Washington accepted that the Ukrainians would use American weapons to strike, in certain cases, military targets on Russian territory close to this area.
This decision followed the launch, in early May, of a surprise ground offensive by Russia in the Kharkiv region, where fighting remains violent.
On Russian soil, Ukrainian drone attacks left one dead and three injured in Graivoron, a town in the Russian border region of Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Sunday.
The Belgorod region is regularly the target of Ukrainian strikes, with Kyiv claiming to defend itself from Russian attacks on its own territory.
In the spring, Graivoron, located just six kilometers from the border, also suffered armed incursions from volunteers presenting themselves as anti-Kremlin Russians based in Ukraine.