Russian missiles attacked industrial facilities in strategic cities in southern Ukraine on Sunday as Moscow continued its efforts to expand its profits in the eastern part of the country.
Oleksandr Senkevych, Mayor of Mykolaiv, said Russian missiles attacked the city’s industrial and infrastructure facilities, the main shipbuilding center at the mouth of the Southern Bagh River. There was no immediate information about casualties.
Mykolaiv has faced regular Russian missile strikes in recent weeks as Russians sought to soften Ukraine’s defenses.
Russian troops have declared the goal of blocking the entire Black Sea coast of Ukraine to the border with Romania. If successful, such efforts could have a devastating impact on Ukraine’s economy and trade, allowing Moscow to secure an overpass to Transnistoria, Moldova’s separatist region, which hosts Russia’s military bases. Will be.
Early in the campaign, Ukrainian troops fought off Russia’s attempt to occupy Mykolaiv near the Black Sea coast between the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula and Odesa, Ukraine’s main port.
Since then, Russian troops have stopped trying to advance in the city, but continued to attack the city with regular missile strikes.
They also sought to strengthen their position in the Kherson region near the Crimean Peninsula and part of the northern region of Zaporizhia, which was seized at the beginning of the conflict, for fear of a Ukrainian counterattack.
The British Ministry of Defense said on Sunday that Russia is moving personnel and equipment between Kherson, Mariupol and Zaporizhia. Russians are also strengthening safety measures around Melitopol.
“Given the pressure on Russian personnel, the strengthening of the South shows the seriousness of the Russian commander seeing the threat while the fight for Donbus continues,” he added.
So far, Russian troops have focused on trying to control Donbus, the eastern industrial center of Ukraine, where the most capable and well-equipped Ukrainian troops are located.
Ukraine maintains control of two small villages in the Luhansk region, one of the two states that make up Donbus, and prevents its troops from advancing into Russia’s second village, the Donetsk region. He states that he has succeeded in doing so.
Ukrainian staff said on Sunday that Ukrainian troops stopped attempts to advance Russia into Slovyansk, Donetsk’s main Ukrainian base, and other attacks elsewhere in the region.
During a frontline visit on Saturday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered “further strengthening the actions of troops in all operational areas.”
While focusing on Donbus, Russians attacked regions across the country on missile strikes.
President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Ukrainians not to fall into an attempt by Russia to scare them with a warning of a horrific missile attack aimed at disrupting Ukrainian society.
“It is clear that Russian missiles and artillery cannot break our unity or lead us to a democratic and independent Ukraine,” he said in a nightly video speech to the country. .. Ukrainian unity cannot be broken by lies, intimidation, counterfeiting or conspiracy theories. “
On Thursday, a Russian missile attack killed at least 24 people, including three children, and injured more than 200 in Vinizia, a city southwest of the capital Kyiv. In the rubble on Saturday, three of the people who went missing after the attack were alive and one remained missing, the paramedics said on Saturday.
On Sunday, relatives and friends attended a memorial service for Liza, a 4-year-old girl who was killed on strike. The girl with Down Syndrome was on her way to meet a speech therapist with her mother in Central Ukraine when the missile landed. Her mother, Irina Dmytrieva, was one of the injured scores.
“Remembering she was reaching out for her daughter, Liza was already dead,” Irina’s aunt Tetiana Dmitrisina told The Associated Press. “Her mother was robbed of the most precious thing she had.”
In the Kharkiv region, at least three civilians were killed and three more injured on Saturday in a pre-dawn Russian strike against the city of Chuhuiv, just 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the Russian border, police said.
Ludmila Kleksina, who lives in the attacked apartment, said the couple were killed and the old man who lived on the ground floor was also killed.
Another resident said she was lucky to survive.
“I was running and trying to hide in the bathroom. I didn’t do that, and it saved me,” said Valentina Bushewa. Pointing to the destroyed apartment, she said.
