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An advisor to Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were shelling ferries that Russia was using to supply a pocket of territory on the west bank of the Dnipro river in the Kherson region.
Ukraine had struck more than 10 sites in the past week and “unquestionably weakened the enemy”, according to a spokeswoman who declined to give details of the counter-offensive, saying Russian forces in the south remained “quite powerful”.
Ukraine has been using sophisticated Western-supplied weapons to hit Russian ammunition dumps and wreak havoc with supply lines.
Oleksandr Maiorov, a retired psychiatrist, looks at the damaged residential building after a Russian attack in Sloviansk, eastern Ukraine.Credit:AP
Russia’s Defence Ministry said Ukrainian troops had attempted an offensive in the southern Mykolaiv and Kherson regions but sustained significant casualties, RIA news agency reported. “[The] enemy’s offensive attempt failed miserably,” it said.
Mykolaiv city officials and witnesses said at least two people were killed and 24 injured.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.
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In Mykolaiv, where Russian shelling hit residential areas, a Reuters correspondent said a strike hit a family home directly next to a school, killing one woman.
The owner of the property, Olexandr Shulga, said he had lived there his entire life and that his wife – who was in a different room when the missile struck – died when she was buried in debris.
“It hit and the shockwave came. It destroyed everything,” he said.
A shipbuilding centre and port on the Southern Bug river just off the Black Sea, Mykolaiv has suffered heavy Russian bombardments throughout the war but remains in Ukrainian hands.
Nuclear Safety
The world is also scrambling to avoid a disaster at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest nuclear plant, where both sides have traded accusations of shelling in its vicinity.
A mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the facility, captured by Russian forces in March but still run by Ukrainian staff, was due to start work in the coming days.
Bush fires outside of the main power plant facilities at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Russian occupied Ukraine.Credit:AP
Led by IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, the mission will assess physical damage, evaluate working conditions and check safety and security systems, the Vienna-based organisation said.
It will also “perform urgent safeguards activities”, a reference to keeping track of nuclear material.
On Monday, Russian-installed officials said a Ukrainian missile strike had punched a hole in the roof of a fuel depot at the plant.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had shot down a Ukrainian drone that was trying to attack the complex, Russian news agencies reported. It said there was no serious damage and radiation levels were normal.
Reuters could not independently verify either report.
The Kremlin said the IAEA mission was “necessary” and urged the international community to pressure Ukraine to reduce military tensions at the plant. The IAEA mission must carry out its work in a politically neutral manner, Russia’s foreign ministry said.
The United Nations, United States and Ukraine have called for the demilitarisation of the complex.
“We continue to believe that a controlled shutdown of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactors would be the safest and least risky option in the near-term,” said White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.
But the Kremlin again ruled out vacating the site.
Liliia Vaulina, 22, one of a number of civilians who had fled Enerhodar for the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia, some 50 km upriver from the plant, said she hoped the IAEA mission would lead to a demilitarisation of its area.
“I think that they will stop the bombing,” she told Reuters.
Reuters