Ukraine's Mykolaiv hit as Russia says navy HQ in Crimea came under attack

Russian shelling in Ukraine's Mykolaiv on Sunday left at least two civilians dead and two others wounded as Moscow said a drone strike targeted a navy command in Crimea.

Authorities depicted the bombardment of the southern city on Sunday evening as the “strongest” since the start of Russian military operation in Ukraine late February. 

“Mykolaiv was subjected to mass shelling today. Probably the strongest so far,” the city’s mayor Oleksandr Senkevych wrote on Telegram.

According to reports, leading Ukrainian grain tycoon Oleksiy Vadatursky, 74, and his wife Raisa were killed when a missile allegedly hit their house in Mykolaiv, which is the closest Ukrainian city to the southern front where Kiev's forces are looking to launch a major counter-offensive.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky described Vadatursky's death as a great loss.

Mykolaiv is situated on the main route to Odesa, Ukraine's biggest port on the Black Sea, and has come under frequent attacks over the past five months.

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The AFP cited witnesses confirming the heavy bombardment of the eastern town of Bakhmut after Zelensky called for civilians to leave the frontline Donetsk region which has borne the brunt of the Kremlin’s military operation.

“There’s already a governmental decision about obligatory evacuation from Donetsk,” Zelensky said, warning civilians to leave.

Official estimates show over 200 thousand civilians are still in the liberated areas. According to the governor of the Donetsk region, three civilians were killed and eight wounded in shelling on Saturday.

Missile strikes also targeted the northeastern regions of Kharkiv and Sumy, damaging a few buildings.

“Today a whole succession of explosions took place...a few buildings are reportedly damaged,” Igor Terekhov, the mayor of Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv, said.

According to Sumy regional chief Dmytro Zhyvytsky, about 50 strikes by Russian forces on Saturday evening had left one person dead and two wounded.

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The development after a drone attack by the Ukrainian military, which wounded six people at the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet in Crimea, prompting Russian officials to cancel planned festivities there.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the head of the local Russian administration in the city of Sevastopol in Crimea, said the attack on Sunday targeted a navy command in the city.

“Early this morning, [Ukraine] decided to spoil our Navy Day. An unidentified object flew into the yard of the fleet headquarters, according to preliminary data, it was a drone,” the governor said.

“There were no fatalities, six people were injured, two in moderate condition, the rest are in stable condition,” Razvozhayev further said, blaming “Ukrainian nationalists” for the attack.

However, Kiev has denied the accusations, with a spokesman for Ukraine's Odessa region military administration calling the incident “a sheer provocation”.

Back in 2014, the then Ukrainian territory of Crimea voted in a referendum to fall under Russian sovereignty.

The United States and the European Union backed Kiev and refused to recognize the referendum results and slammed the move as annexation. Later, they imposed sanctions on Moscow, which strongly denied the allegation.

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