C T Online Desk: Ukraine said the “brutal” shelling by Moscow so far of the southern city Mykolaiv killed a grain tycoon Sunday, as Russia claimed an attack from a drone wounded six personnel at the headquarters of its Black Sea fleet.
AFP journalists witnessed intense Russian bombardment of the eastern town of Bakhmut after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for civilians to leave the front line Donetsk region bearing the brunt of the Kremlin’s offensive.
Authorities in Ukraine’s southern city of Mykolaiv said Sunday that widespread Russian bombardments overnight killed at least two civilians.
“Today, one of the most brutal shellings of Mykolaiv and the region over the entire period of the full-scale war took place. Dozens of missiles and rockets,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an address.
“I want to thank every resident of Mykolaiv for their indomitability.”
Ukrainian agricultural magnate Oleksiy Vadatursky, 74, and his wife Raisa were killed when a missile struck their house, authorities said.
Vadatursky owned major grain exporter Nibulon and was previously decorated with the prestigious “Hero of Ukraine” award.
Zelensky offered condolences and paid tribute to Vadatursky in his Sunday address.
Mykolaiv — which has been attacked frequently — is the closest Ukrainian city to the southern front where Kyiv’s forces are looking to launch a major counter-offensive to recapture territory lost after Russia’s February invasion.
– Drone attack –
Russian authorities in the Crimean Black Sea peninsula — seized by Moscow from Ukraine in 2014 — said a small explosive device from a commercial drone, likely launched nearby, hit the navy command in Sevastopol.
The local mayor blamed “Ukrainian nationalists” for the attack that forced the cancellation of festivities marking Russia’s annual holiday celebrating the navy.
But Ukraine’s navy accused Russia of staging the attacks as a pretext to cancel the festivities.
The claim and counterclaim came as the dispute over which side struck a jail holding Ukrainian prisoners of war in Kremlin-controlled Olenivka, rumbled on, with Kyiv and Moscow trading blame.
