Under pressure in southern Ukraine, Russia launched missiles and drones into Ukrainian-held Mykolaiv on Sunday, destroying an apartment block in the shipbuilding city near the front and warning that the war was headed for an “uncontrolled escalation”. .
Mykolaiv is about 35 kilometers northwest of the front line in occupied Kherson, the southern region that is the target of a major offensive by Ukrainian forces to retake territory that Russia captured shortly after the invasion of February 24.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, whom Russian nationalists have blamed for Moscow’s setbacks in the war, discussed the “rapidly deteriorating situation” in calls with his French and Turkish counterparts, the ministry said.
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Shoigu said Ukraine could escalate with a “dirty bomb,” conventional explosives laced with radioactive material, without providing evidence. Ukraine does not have nuclear weapons, while Russia has said it could protect Russian territory with its nuclear arsenal.
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On Sunday, in a conventional Russian attack, a missile strike leveled the top floor of an apartment block in Mykolaiv, propelled shrapnel and debris across a square and into neighboring buildings where windows were shattered and the walls cracked. Cars were crushed under the debris, Reuters witnessed. No fatalities have been reported.
“After the first explosion, I tried to get out, but the door was stuck. After a minute or two, there was a second loud bang. Our door was blown into the corridor,” said Oleksandr Mezinov, from 50 years old, who was awakened from his bed by the explosions.
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Ukraine shot down 14 Russian “kamikaze” drones over Mykolaiv overnight, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram. The drones are designed to explode on impact and have struck Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this month.
Kim said Russia also attacked with S-300 missiles, one of which hit the five-story apartment building.
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Russian troops have withdrawn from parts of the front in recent weeks and occupation authorities are evacuating civilians deeper into Russian-held territory ahead of the expected battle for Kherson, the regional capital on the west bank of the Dnipro River . Kherson is a gateway to Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
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Russian authorities based in Kherson said one man was killed and three were injured after an explosion in the city, a Russian state news agency said. Emergency services said an improvised explosive device was detonated near a car in the city.
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Reuters could not verify the attack on Kherson, nor Kim’s report on missiles and drones.
Ukraine’s advances in recent weeks around Kherson and in the country’s northeast have been seen by an intensification of Russian missile and drone attacks on civilian infrastructure, which have destroyed nearly 40 percent of the country’s electricity system. ‘Ukraine before winter.
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Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of planning to blow up the Nova Kakhovka Dam, which holds roughly as much water as the Great Salt Lake in the US state of Utah. Failure to comply could flood a swath of southern Ukraine, including Kherson.
Neither side has provided evidence to back up their claims about the dam, which supplies water to Crimea and the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
In Kherson, occupation authorities ordered civilians out, in the latest sign of the problems Russia faces in what Moscow calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
“Due to the tense situation at the front, the increased danger of massive bombing of the city and the threat of terrorist attacks, all civilians must immediately leave the city and cross to the (east) bank of the Dnipro!” employment authorities posted on Telegram.
Thousands of civilians have fled Kherson following warnings of a Ukrainian offensive to retake the city.
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In Oleshky, on the east bank, Reuters saw people arriving by boat from Kherson, laden with boxes, bags and pets. A woman was carrying a small child under one arm and a dog under the other.
“I didn’t really want to (leave), I’m still working,” said one resident. “We wanted to stay here in the region, but now we don’t know.”
The Ukrainian military said it was making gains in the south, taking at least two villages that Russia had abandoned.
Reuters could not independently verify the accounts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian attacks on energy infrastructure had occurred on a “very broad” scale. He promised that his military would improve on an already good record of shooting down missiles with the help of its partners.
With the war about to enter its ninth month and winter approaching, the potential for freezing misery loomed.
More than a million people were without power, presidential adviser Kyrylo Tymoshenko said. A municipal official said the strikes could leave Kyiv without electricity and heat for days or weeks.
Moscow has acknowledged that energy infrastructure was targeted, but denies that civilians were targeted.