![]() ![]() Strikes on Russian-held targets have intensified in the past two weeks, especially in Crimea. Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports. The overnight strikes coincided with Ukrainian and Russian media reports of multiple explosions across Russian-occupied Crimea.īaza - a Telegram channel with links to Russia's law enforcement agencies - reported that Ukraine had sent a series of drones over the peninsula, with Russian air defence shooting down at least one over the port of Sevastopol. Russian forces have stepped up their long-range missile strikes on civilian and infrastructure targets in recent days. In the southern city of Kherson - which Ukraine liberated last November but has remained under constant Russian attack - six people were killed over the past 24 hours in a variety of strikes, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. In the eastern Kharkiv region, at least five people were injured after an S-300 missile struck a car park in the city of Balakliya, Governor Oleh Synyehubov said. In Mykolaiv, Governor Vitalii Kim said in a social media post that a building and territory belonging to an unspecified enterprise were damaged overnight after Russian long-range bombers targeted his southern region with five Kh-22 cruise missiles. The general staff of Ukraine's armed forces said on Sunday that Russians were continuing to remove what it described as looted property from frontline settlements in occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia region under the pretext of capturing civilians. "They were … restoring safety for our people," Mr Zelenskyy said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that nine Ukrainian explosives experts who were engaged in de-mining were killed in a single Russian attack in the southern Kherson region on Saturday. ( AP Photo: Libkos/File) Ukrainian de-miners killed as Russian attacks continueĮlsewhere, Ukrainian and Russian media reported explosions across Russian-occupied Crimea, and Russia's Defence Ministry said its air-defences had detected and destroyed 22 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea overnight. The eastern city of Bakhmut has been the site of a protracted battle. Ukrainian troops have been pushed back in recent weeks but have clung on in the city to inflict as many Russian losses as possible ahead of Kyiv's planned big push against the invading forces along the 1,000-kilometre front line. ![]() The battle for Bakhmut has been the most intense of the conflict, costing thousands of lives on both sides in months of grinding warfare. Mr Prigozhin's threat to pull out of Bakhmut highlights the pressure Russian forces are under as Ukraine makes its final preparations for a counteroffensive backed by thousands of Western-donated armoured vehicles and freshly trained troops. Kyiv, meanwhile, has said before that holding Bakhmut will allow its military to prepare a counteroffensive.Ĭolonel General Syrskyi said the increased fighting showed "the enemy is not going to change their plans and is doing everything possible to take Bakhmut under control and continue offensive action". Moscow sees Bakhmut as a stepping stone to attacking other Ukrainian cities. The battle for the city, once home to 70,000 people, has symbolic importance for both sides, with Ukraine still holding on to some parts of after more than 10 months of fierce fighting against regular Russian troops and the Wagner mercenary force. We have been promised that everything needed to prevent the enemy from cutting us off will be deployed."Ī spokesman for Russia's Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment after Mr Prigozhin's latest statement. However - in an audio message posted on his Telegram channel on Sunday - he said: "We have been promised as much ammunition and weapons as we need to continue further operations. On Friday, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin had said that his fighters - who have spearheaded a months-long assault on Bakhmut - would pull out on May 10 after being starved of ammunition and suffering "useless and unjustified" losses as a result. ![]()
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