A destroyed residential building in the city of Voznesensk, Ukraine, on August 20. HANDOUT/AFP/Getty Images
Artillery shells rained down overnight on a city near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and Russian missiles hit targets near Odesa, a Ukrainian Black Sea port and grain export hub, as the war headed toward its six-month milestone on Wednesday.
August 24 will also mark 31 years since Ukraine’s independence from Soviet rule and President Volodymyr Zelensky in an overnight video address called for vigilance, saying Moscow could try “something particularly ugly”.
Russian authorities said Sunday they were investigating a suspected car bomb attack outside Moscow that killed the daughter of Alexander Dugin, an ultranationalist Russian ideologue who advocates Russia absorbing Ukraine.
While investigators said they were considering “all versions” in trying to figure out who was responsible, the Russian Foreign Ministry speculated there could be a link to Ukraine, which the adviser de Zelensky quickly dismissed.
“Ukraine, of course, had nothing to do with this because we are not a criminal state, like the Russian Federation, and we are also not a terrorist state,” Mykhailo Podolyak told Ukrainian television, suggesting the incident was a “karmic”. return of supporters of the invasion of Moscow.
As Ukraine prepared to mark its Independence Day amid a war that has ravaged towns and cities, killed thousands and forced millions to flee, military and regional officials reported more Russian attacks on targets in the east and the south of the country.
Of particular concern was the bombing of Nikopol, a city across the Dnipro River from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s and Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. It has been in the hands of Russian forces since March.
Nikopol was bombed on five separate occasions overnight, regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko wrote on Telegram. He said 25 artillery shells hit the city, setting an industrial building on fire and cutting power to 3,000 residents.
Fighting near Zaporizhzia and Saturday’s missile attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Voznesensk, which is not far from Ukraine’s second-largest nuclear plant, have sparked fears of a nuclear accident .
Local authorities also reported overnight missile attacks in the Odesa region, home to Black Sea ports critical to a United Nations plan to help Ukraine’s agricultural exports, key to supply global food, to reach the world markets again.
Five Russian Kalibr cruise missiles were fired from the Black Sea at the region overnight, the spokesman for the regional administration said, citing information from the southern military command. Two were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses while three hit agricultural targets, but there were no casualties.
Russia said on Sunday that the missiles had destroyed an ammunition depot containing missiles for US-made HIMARS rockets, while Kyiv said a barn had been hit.
There were no new reports of incidents in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, after a series of explosions made headlines in recent weeks.
In his speech, Mr. Zelensky referred obliquely to the explosions, which Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for, but analysts have said at least some were made possible by new equipment used by its forces.
“You can literally hear Crimea in the air this year, that the occupation there is only temporary and that Ukraine is coming back,” Zelensky said.
In the latest incident, a drone strike on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet was foiled on Saturday morning, according to a Telegram post by Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-appointed governor of Crimea, which is not recognized by the West.
In a daily Facebook update, Ukraine’s general staff also reported several Russian assault attempts over the past 24 hours in Donbas, the eastern region partially controlled by pro-Moscow separatists that has been a target key to Russia’s campaign in recent months.
In the south, Russian forces carried out a successful assault on the village of Blahodatne on the border between Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, he said. The city of Mykolaiv was hit by multiple S-300 missiles early Sunday, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces had destroyed two M777 howitzers in combat positions in the Kherson region and a fuel tank in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Reuters could not independently verify reports from the battlefield.
Nuclear fears
Fighting near the Russian-controlled plant and Saturday’s missile attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Voznesensk, not far from the country’s second-largest nuclear power plant, revived fears of an accident nuclear
The attack in Voznesensk was “another act of Russian nuclear terrorism,” state-owned Energoatom, which runs Ukraine’s four nuclear power generators, said in a statement.
Russia did not immediately respond to the accusation. Reuters was unable to verify the situation in Voznesensk. There were no reports of damage to the power plant.
As Moscow and Ukraine continue to trade accusations of bombing around the Zaporizhzhia complex, the United Nations has called for a demilitarized zone around the plant and talks continued about a visit by its nuclear agency to the area.
Mr. Zelensky in his speech also referred obliquely to a recent series of explosions in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attacks, but analysts have said at least some were made possible by new equipment used by its forces.
“You can literally hear Crimea in the air this year, that the occupation there is only temporary and that Ukraine is coming back,” Zelensky said.
In the latest incident, the Russian-appointed governor of Crimea, which is not recognized by the West, said a drone strike on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet was thwarted on Saturday morning.
“It was shot down right above the fleet headquarters. It fell on the roof and burned. The attack failed,” Mikhail Razvozhayev told Telegram.
Mr. Razvozhayev said the region’s anti-aircraft system was back in operation and asked residents to stop filming and spreading footage of it working.
Ukrainian media reported explosions in nearby towns, including the tourist centers of Yevpatoriya, Olenivka and Zaozyornoye.
Further west, five Kalibr missiles were fired from the Black Sea in the Odesa region overnight, the regional administration said, citing the southern military command. Two were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses while three hit grain storage, but there were no casualties.
Odesa and other ports in the region have been at the center of a UN-brokered deal to allow Ukrainian grain exports, blocked by the war, to return to world markets. On Sunday, Turkey’s defense ministry reported that four more ships loaded with food left Ukrainian ports, bringing the total to 31.
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