CNN
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Ukrainian forces struck the Russian-occupied metropolis of Melitopol over the weekend, opening a brand new entrance in Kyiv’s battle to reclaim land within the south of the nation and underlining the significance of longer-range weaponry.
The assaults struck numerous totally different areas, together with a church getting used as a base by Russian forces, based on the town’s exiled mayor, Ivan Fedorov, who shared a video filmed at night time of a hearth burning within the distance.
“Fireworks within the east of Melitopol,” he stated in a publish on social messaging app Telegram on Saturday, claiming that 200 individuals have been killed and 300 injured in heavy shelling on the town.
In an interview with Ukrainian tv a day later, Federov rowed again on that quantity, saying that “dozens” have been useless. He added that three websites had been hit, together with a restaurant-hotel complicated on the outskirts of Melitopol, generally known as “Prival Okhotnika,” or Hunter’s Relaxation, a checkpoint 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the town in Novobohdanivka, and a army unit that was “utterly destroyed” close to the village of Semenivka.
Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed governor of Zaporizhzhia area, the place Melitopol is situated, stated that Ukraine had hit Melitopol utilizing a HIMARS system, killing two individuals and wounding 10 others, three of whom have been handled within the hospital – a considerably decrease quantity than was reported by Fedorov.
“Ukrainian HIMARS have been launched on the outskirts of Melitopol. Two missiles have been shot down by anti-aircraft protection, however 4 reached their goal,” Balitsky stated in a publish on Telegram on Saturday, sharing a video of emergency providers responding to an enormous blaze. He claimed the targets had included a “recreation heart,” the place civilians and army personnel have been having dinner on Saturday night time, however didn’t identify it.
Fedorov claimed in an interview on Monday that Russian troops within the metropolis have been “panicking” and “redeploying,” given Ukrainian strikes on the town. With out offering any proof, he stated “they’re busy transferring their army teams to different locations to attempt to disguise them.”
Melitopol, a southeastern metropolis on the banks of the Molochna River, fell to Moscow in March quickly after the invasion. The town’s mayor was kidnapped by Russian forces and later launched, whereas a pro-Kremlin administration was put in.
Melitopol lies south of the town of Zaporizhzhia and to the east of Kherson metropolis, which was lately recaptured by Ukrainian troops. It’s a main Russian logistics hub and has been in Russian palms for a number of months, however has come beneath hearth from Ukrainian counter-strikes in current weeks.
Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, underlined the significance of the town in feedback made to native media outlet Feigin Stay on Saturday.
“If Melitopol falls, the complete protection (of the occupiers) to Kherson collapses, the Ukrainian armed forces soar proper to the border with Crimea on the isthmus,” stated Arestovych.
The assaults on Melitopol got here because the Ukrainians additionally struck a lodge, which allegedly housed the Wagner mercenary unit in Luhansk.
Heavy artillery, together with the usage of Grad missiles, was additionally reported in southern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk area in a single day, Valentyn Reznichenko, the top of the Dnipropetrovsk regional army administration, stated on Telegram Monday.
Kyiv’s assaults come as Russian strikes ramp up on Ukraine’s energy grid, and rising warnings of the vitality disaster gripping the nation.
Throughout Ukraine, crews are scrambling to revive vitality capabilities quicker than Moscow’s troops can knock them out. It’s a troublesome, and more and more dire battle as a protracted winter units in.
All of Ukraine’s thermal and hydroelectric energy stations have been broken within the relentless Russian missile strikes focusing on the nation’s energy system, Ukraine’s prime minister stated Sunday.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that “there’s a vital [power] technology deficit” within the nation’s vitality system, following eight waves of Russian assaults focusing on essential infrastructure.
“All thermal and hydroelectric energy stations have been broken, and 40% of the high-voltage community amenities have been broken to various levels,” stated Shmyhal. “Every of us should understand that this winter we should reside by with vital restrictions on electrical energy consumption.”
Russian drone strikes on Odesa, a key port metropolis in southern Ukraine, plunged greater than 1.5 million individuals into darkness over the weekend. Energy and water provides have been regularly being restored to the town, however 300,000 nonetheless remained with out energy on Sunday, Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov stated in an announcement on Telegram.
“The scenario is kind of managed, though not simple,” he stated, including that his administration was re-launching pumping stations and delivering water by truck to zones the place shortages proceed.
President Zelensky stated Sunday in his nightly tackle that the nation’s forces had shot down 10 of 15 drones that Russia deployed over Odesa – a quantity that might not be independently verified. He referred to as the strikes by Russian drones “essential” and prompt it will take just a few days to revive the electrical energy provide within the area.
“The facility system is now, to place it mildly, very removed from a standard state,” he stated.
The port of Odesa is Ukraine’s key to exporting important meals merchandise, together with by its “Grain from Ukraine” initiative, which is geared toward addressing the worldwide starvation disaster.
Ukrenergo, the Ukrainian state run vitality supplier, reported that there was nonetheless a “vital energy deficit” within the grid.
“The scenario in Odesa area remains to be troublesome, the restoration of energy provide to customers continues,” it stated in a publish on Fb, including that the destruction attributable to Russian assaults “doesn’t permit to totally use the capacities of thermal energy crops, extra time is required to revive their work.”
