Ukraine has attacked the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, which is strategically located in the southeast of the country, according to Moscow’s emplacement and exiled Ukrainian authorities.
Pro-Moscow authorities said a missile attack on Saturday night killed two people and wounded 10 others, while the exiled Ukrainian mayor said dozens of “intruders” were killed.
Reuters could not independently verify reports of the attack or the death.
“The air defense system destroyed two missiles and four missiles hit the target,” Yevgeny Balitsky, the Moscow-appointed governor of the occupied Zaporozhye region, said on the Telegram messaging app. Say.
He said an “entertainment center” where people dined was destroyed in a Ukrainian strike with Himars missiles.
The mayor in exile, Ivan Fedorov, said on his Telegram channel that the attack hit a church that the Russians had turned into a meeting place.
Another Moscow official in the Russian-controlled Zaporozhye region, Vladimir Rogov, said a fire from the strike engulfed the entertainment center. He posted a video of a building on fire.
Himars multiple rocket launchers have been one of Ukraine’s most effective weapons in the war, delivering precision fire at hundreds of targets, including Russian command posts. On Friday, the United States said it would send more aid to Kiev to bolster its air defenses and defeat drones.
Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Melitopol, a major industrial and transport center occupied by Russia since March, is a key to the south.
“All the logistics connecting the Russian army in the east of the Kherson region, all the way to the Russian border near Mariupol is carried through it,” Arestovich said in a video interview on social media.
“If Melitopol falls, the whole [Russian] All the way to Kherson the defense collapsed. Ukrainian troops have been given a direct route to Crimea. “
The Ukrainian army had no immediate comment on the attack. Earlier in the day, the Central Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said it had been carrying out strikes on Melitopol.
