The exiled mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, reported on Telegram that a church that the Russians had turned into a gathering place was hit by Ukrainian forces.
The Ukrainian army launched an offensive on Saturday night in occupied Melitopol, in the southeastern part of the country, according to the Moscow-appointed administration and the city’s exiled mayor. Pro-Russian authorities said two people were killed and 10 others wounded in a rocket attack in Melitopol, while exiled mayor Ivan Fedorov claimed dozens of “insurgents” were killed.
The Reuters agency emphasizes that it cannot verify the specific reports.
“Air defense systems intercepted two missiles, but four missiles hit their targets,” Yevgeny Balitsky, the Moscow-appointed governor of the occupied part of Zaporizhia region, told Telegram. He reported that HIMARS missiles hit a dining area where there were several diners.
Another pro-Russian administration official, Vladimir Rogov, posted video of a building engulfed in flames, claiming it was from the Ukrainian attack on Melitopol.
The exiled mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, reported on Telegram that a church had been hit, which the Russians had turned into a gathering place.
The HIMARS multiple launch missile systems are seen as instrumental in the counter-attack launched by the Ukrainian forces, accurately hitting the positions of the Russian invaders.
On Friday, the US announced it was sending new military aid to Ukraine to bolster the country’s air defenses.
Oleksii Arestovich, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, called Melitopol, an industrial center under the control of Russian forces since last March, of strategic importance. “All military logistics connecting Russian forces in the eastern part of Kherson to the border near Mariupol pass through there,” Arestovich said in a video interview posted on social media. “If Melitopolis falls, the entire defensive line up to Kherson will collapse. Ukrainian forces are gaining access to Crimea,” he added.
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