As Russia’s war approaches the eight-month mark, pro-Kremlin officials have pointed the finger at Ukraine for a rocket attack that hit the mayor’s office in a significant Ukrainian city seized by the separatists.
In the meantime, six persons were injured, according to Ukrainian officials, when Russian rockets reportedly struck a city next to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station.
In the nearly seven weeks since the Ukrainian armed forces launched their southern counteroffensive, Russia has lost land, prompting the strikes on both sides.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the Kremlin is thought to have carried out its greatest coordinated air and missile assaults on Ukraine’s major infrastructure last week in response.
The rocket attack severely destroyed the municipal mayor’s building in separatist-controlled Donetsk. The building, which had a partially collapsed ceiling as well as rows of blown-out windows, was surrounded by plumes of smoke. Nearby burned-out cars.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Kiev did not immediately take responsibility for the incident or make any comments.
Without giving any supporting evidence, Kremlin-backed separatist authorities have already accused Ukraine of carrying out multiple attacks on residential and infrastructure targets in the occupied territories using long-range HIMARS rockets from the US.
Separately, police in Kyiv stated that the most recent incident in Nikopol, which is adjacent to Europe’s largest nuclear reactor, Zaporizhzhia, injured at least six people. According to them, the attacks also caused damage to a number of civilian buildings, including homes, shops, and gas pipelines.
Russia and Ukraine have regularly accused one another of firing at and around the factory, which is governed by Russian authority but is staffed primarily by Ukrainians.
Even if 20% of Zaporizhzhia is still governed by the Ukrainian military, the region of Zaporizhzhia is one of four that Moscow illegally seized last month.
Russian officials claimed that “at least” 16 Ukrainian missiles were shot down by their air defences in the Belgorod region of western Russia, close to the Ukrainian border, according to a report from Russia’s Ria Novosti. Vyacheslav Gladkov, the regional governor, reported that four persons were hurt.
In border districts, Russian officials have frequently alleged that Kyiv has fired on their territory and injured residents. No statements or claims of responsibility for the alleged attacks have been made by Ukraine.
Russian shelling and missile attacks on Ukrainian territory have traditionally utilised Belgorod as a staging area.
Meanwhile, Russia opened an investigation into a shooting in the Belgorod region on Saturday (local time) in which two men from a former Soviet republic who were training at a Russian military firing range killed 11 and wounded 15 during target practice, before being slain themselves. The incident was referred to as a terrorist act by the Russian Defense Ministry.
In occupied Donetsk, Ukraine, rockets strike the mayor’s office.
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