Ukraine assaults Russian-held Kherson, plans retaliation

• Ukraine’s military says 52 people were killed in Nova Kakhovka.
• The town’s Russia-backed administration reported seven deaths and 70 injuries.
• Ukraine says Russian troops are massing in the cities of Donetsk, Siversky, Sloviansk, and Kramatorsk.

Ukraine launched long-range rocket attacks on Russian forces in southern Ukraine and destroyed ammunition storage, its military said.

Ukraine’s military confirmed Tuesday that 52 people were murdered in Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region.

The town’s Russia-installed administration reported seven deaths and 70 injuries, according to TASS.

Washington supplied Ukraine with HIMARS mobile artillery systems, which Kyiv says are being used effectively.

According to Ukraine’s southern military command, “Based on the results of our rocket and artillery units, the enemy lost 52 (people), an Msta-B howitzer, a mortar and seven armored and other vehicles, as well as an ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka.”

Pro-Russian officials say civilians died.

The area’s Black Sea access, once-thriving agriculture, and location immediately north of Russian-annexed Crimea make it strategically important.

Unverified social media videos showed a huge fireball in the sky. Russian state media presented a rubble-filled wasteland.

A Russian-backed local official stated that Ukraine fired HIMARS missiles to demolish saltpetre storage, which may be used to produce fertiliser or gunpowder.

“There are still many people under the rubble. The injured are being taken to the hospital, but many people are blocked in their apartments and houses,” Vladimir Leontyev, head of Russia’s Kakhovka District military-civilian administration, was reported as saying by the Russian news agency.

Warehouses, stores, a pharmacy, gas stations, and a church were damaged.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry didn’t immediately comment on the weapon.

Russia continues to bomb eastern Ukraine to seize Donetsk province and the industrial Donbas region. Moscow conquered Luhansk province this month, completing the Donbas.

Russia says it wants to take over the Donbas for two self-proclaimed people’s republics whose independence is recognised before the war.

Ukraine expects a Russian invasion in the east. Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko stated that Russian forces are massing in Bakhmut, Siversky, Sloviansk, and Kramatorsk.

He claimed that Russian troops tried to burst through the front line but were rebuffed, he claimed.

Andrey Marochko, a member of a pro-Russian militia, said that Ukrainian forces hit a Luhansk air defence unit with a “massive air strike.”

Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine is Europe’s largest battle since World War II.

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The UN estimates that 5.2 million people have fled Ukraine because of the violence.

The UN human rights office stated Tuesday that 5,024 people have been killed in Ukraine since the invasion began.

The conflict has delayed Ukraine’s grain shipments, deepening a worldwide food crisis. Over 20 million tonnes of grain are stalled in Odesa’s silos.

On Wednesday, military representatives from the Ukraine, Russia, and Turkey will meet with UN officials in Istanbul to talk about getting grain exports back on track.

Yuriy Vaskov, who is the deputy minister of infrastructure, said that grain shipments across the Danube River have gone up since the Bystre canal reopened and gave access to small river ports in the interior.

Vaskov said monthly grain shipments will grow by 500,000 tonnes. He said Ukraine is working with Romania and the EU to increase Sulina canal shipments.

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