Ukrainian forces hit a Russian base with over 30 strikes in the Russian-occupied southern city of Melitopol on Sunday, the city's exiled Ukrainian mayor said. A Russian official confirmed strikes had hit the city.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
"At 3 o'clock (1200 GMT) and 5 o'clock (0200 GMT), there were over 30 strikes exclusively on a military base," Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov, who is currently on Ukraine-controlled territory, said in a video address on Telegram, adding that the base had been "taken out of action."
Fedorov also said that resistance activity had caused a Russian armored train carrying ammunition to derail on Saturday near Melitopol.
Russia's RIA news agency reported that Ukraine had hit the Aviamistechko area of Melitopol where the city's airport is located, but did not specify what had been hit.
Meanwhile, at least three people were killed and dozens of residential buildings damaged in the Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukraine border, the regional governor said Sunday, after reports of several blasts in the city.
At least 11 apartment buildings and 39 private houses were damaged, including five that were destroyed, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov posted on the Telegram messaging app.
Gladkov said earlier the "incident" was being investigated, adding, "Presumably, the air defense system worked."
At least four people were injured and two hospitalized, including a 10-year-old boy, Gladkov said.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate reaction from Ukraine to the reports.
Belgorod, a city of nearly 400,000 some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the border with Ukraine, is the administrative center of the Belgorod region.
Since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24, there have been numerous reports of attacks on Belgorod and other regions bordering Ukraine, with Moscow accusing Kyiv of carrying out the strikes.
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for previous attacks but has described the incidents as payback and "karma" for Russia's invasion.
Elsewhere, despite the Ukrainian military's apparent efforts to strike Russia on its own turf, Russian forces were strengthening their positions in a grueling fight to capture the last stronghold of resistance in eastern Ukraine's Luhansk province, the region's governor said Sunday.
Ukrainian fighters have spent weeks trying to defend the city of Lysychansk, and to keep it from falling to Russia, as neighboring Sievierodonetsk did a week ago. A presidential adviser predicted its fate could be determined within days.
"The occupiers threw all their forces on Lysychansk. They attacked the city with incomprehensibly cruel tactics," Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai said on the Telegram messaging app. "They suffer significant losses, but stubbornly advance. They are gaining a foothold in the city."
A river separates Lysychansk from Sievierodonetsk. Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, said during an online interview late Saturday that Russian forces had managed for the first time to cross the river from the north, creating a "threatening" situation.
Arestovych said they had not reached the center of the city but that the course of the fighting indicated the battle for Lysychansk would be decided by Monday. In May, Ukrainian and British officials reported that Russia lost nearly an entire battalion in an attempt to cross the Siverskyi Donets River and set up a bridgehead.
Taking Lysychansk would bring Moscow closer to its stated goal of seizing all of Ukraine's Donbas region. Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk are the two provinces that make up the Donbas, where Russia has focused its offensive since pulling back from northern Ukraine and the capital, Kyiv, in the spring.
Pro-Russia separatists have held portions of both eastern provinces since 2014, and Moscow recognizes all of Luhansk and Donetsk as sovereign republics. Syria's government said Wednesday that it would also recognize the "independence and sovereignty" of the two areas.
Meanwhile, the leader of neighboring Belarus, a Russian ally, claimed Saturday that Ukraine fired missiles at military targets on Belarusian territory several days ago but all were intercepted by an air defense system. President Alexander Lukashenko described the alleged strike as a provocation and noted that no Belarusian soldiers were fighting in Ukraine.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
There was no immediate response from the Ukrainian military.
Belarus hosts Russian military units and was used as a staging ground for Russia's invasion. Last week, just hours before Lukashenko was to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian long-range bombers fired missiles on Ukraine from Belarusian airspace for the first time.
Lukashenko has so far resisted efforts to draw his army into the war. But during their meeting, Putin announced that Russia planned to supply Belarus with the Iskander-M missile system and reminded Lukashenko that his government depends on economic support from Russia.
