Ukraine has launched a counter-offensive in the south of the country to regain control of Russian-occupied territory. According to Ukrainian sources, the targets were hit with long-range missiles and an ammunition depot in Nowa Kakhovka, near Kherson, was hit. 52 Russians were killed. According to the administration installed by Russia in the region, at least seven people died and about 60 were injured.
Russian news agency Tass reported on Tuesday, citing the head of the administration, Vladimir Leontiev. The information could not be independently verified.
Leontyev also said that a warehouse containing saltpeter was hit. Nitrate can be used both as a fertilizer and for the production of explosives. The attack used rockets from the US Himar mobile missile system. Ukraine initially did not comment on this. The military commander of southern Ukraine said the enemy had lost 52 soldiers, a howitzer, a mortar and seven armored vehicles and others. Ukrainian government officials have announced that they intend to recruit up to one million troops for the counteroffensive. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereshchuk had already asked the civilian population of the Kherson region on Sunday to leave the area.
Donetsk in Russia’s crosshairs
Russian forces concentrated their attacks in the east of the country. After capturing the Luhansk region, Donetsk is now in Russia’s crosshairs; if successful there, all of Donbass would be captured. The governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said that there has been a significant deployment of Russian troops in the region, especially in the Bakhmut and Sieversk regions, as well as in Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. The bombing continued along the entire front line. Russian troops were still trying to advance but were being pushed back, Kyrylenko said. According to the Tass agency, Russian forces have already surrounded Siewersk.
The town of Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine, was again attacked by Russian troops on Tuesday. According to the governor of the region of the same name, at least twelve people were injured. Projectiles from several rocket launchers hit two medical facilities and residential buildings, Governor Vitaly Kim said on Telegram. Mykolaiv lies west of Kherson and is the last major city before the western Ukrainian port of Odessa. Ukraine fears that Russia wants to take control too. In that case, Ukraine would be completely isolated from the Black Sea coast.
millions on the run
Thousands of people have been killed in Europe’s biggest war since World War II. Millions of Ukrainians fled the fighting. More than 5.5 million of them fled abroad. Europe fears for its energy security amid war, while Russia cuts off gas supplies. Russia speaks of a “special military operation” in Ukraine aimed at demilitarization and denazification. The West and Ukraine, on the other hand, accuse Russia of an unprovoked war of aggression and war crimes.
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine’s self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic opened their diplomatic mission in Moscow on Tuesday. The representative office opened in the center of Moscow, close to the Western representations, accompanied by a huge police presence.
situation “deteriorated drastically”
The head of the People’s Republic’s “Ministry of Foreign Affairs”, Natalia Nikanorova, said that the situation on the ground had “dramatically deteriorated” in recent days, so only a sober ceremony to open the representation was planned.
As far as integration into the Russian state is concerned, “we are in no hurry,” said Nikanorova. The main objective is to “liberate the republic”. After that, there will be a referendum, “and we’ll see what the people want.” High-ranking Russian representatives were not present.
In the small town of Chasiv Yar, in eastern Ukraine, the death toll after a Russian rocket attack on a house has risen to 45. Nine people have been rescued from the rubble since the attack on Saturday, the civil defense of the Donetsk region said on Monday. Tuesday. Kyiv speaks of a civilian residential building. The Russian army, on the other hand, claims to have attacked a building used for military purposes. The information can hardly be independently verified.