[ad_1]
A top official in the Ukrainian city said on Sunday that a Russian attack on Zaporozhye hit apartment buildings overnight, killing at least 17 people. City Council Secretary Anatoly Kurtev said the city was hit by rockets overnight, destroying at least five private homes and damaging about 40 people.
The Ukrainian military also confirmed the attack, which it said caused dozens of casualties.
The strikes came after an explosion on Saturday partially collapsed a bridge linking the Crimean peninsula with Russia, disrupting a vital supply artery for the Kremlin’s crumbling war effort in the south. Ukraine And hit a towering symbol of Russian power in the region.
Zaporozhye, which has been attacked repeatedly in recent weeks, is located in an area controlled by Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed last week in violation of international law.
The part of the area currently under Russian control is home to Europe’s largest Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. The United Nations nuclear watchdog said Saturday that it had been repeatedly threatened by fighting and had lost the last remaining external power source due to renewed shelling. It now relies on emergency diesel generators.
No one has claimed responsibility for the Crimea bridge attack, but it is a major blow for Russia and could lead to an escalation of the conflict. Some Russian lawmakers have called on Putin to declare an “anti-terrorist operation” rather than the term “special military operation” that downplays the scope of fighting for ordinary Russians.
Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Saturday night to strengthen the security of bridges and energy infrastructure between Crimea and Russia, and put the FSB, the Russian federal security service, in charge of the work.
Hours after the blast, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Air Force Commander General Sergei Surovykin would now command all Russian troops stationed in Ukraine.
Surowykin, who was appointed head of southern Ukraine’s forces this summer, had led Russian troops in Syria and was accused of overseeing a bombing that devastated much of Aleppo.
The 19-kilometer (12-mile) Kerch Bridge on the strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov is a symbol of Moscow’s sovereignty over Crimea and a key link in Russia’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
The $3.6 billion bridge is the longest in Europe and is critical to sustaining Russia’s military operations in southern Ukraine. Putin himself presided over the opening of the bridge in 2018.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indirectly acknowledged the bridge attack in a video address, but did not say why. “It’s not a bad day, it’s been sunny most of the time on our state territory,” he said.
“Unfortunately, Crimea is cloudy. It’s also warm.”
Zelensky said Ukraine wanted a “future without occupiers”. On our territory, especially in Crimea. “
Zelensky also said Ukrainian troops had advanced or held the line in the east and south, but acknowledged “very, very difficult, very hard fighting” around the city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russian troops recently Victory in the region.
Train and car traffic on the bridge was temporarily stopped. Crimea’s Russia-backed leader, Sergey Aksyonov, said that on Saturday afternoon, car traffic resumed on one of the two remaining lines, with two-way flow.
Rail traffic is slowly recovering. Two passenger trains left the Crimean cities of Sevastopol and Simferopol on Saturday night, heading towards the bridge. Passenger ferries between Crimea and mainland Russia will restart on Sunday.
While Russia occupied areas north of Crimea early in its invasion of Ukraine and built a land corridor to Crimea off the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov, Ukraine is pressuring a counteroffensive to reclaim the territory. Russian-controlled coastal territory includes the Zaporozhye region.
The Crimean peninsula is a popular destination for Russian tourists and is home to a Russian naval base. The Russian Tourism Association estimated that 50,000 tourists were in Crimea on Saturday.
[ad_2]
Source link