Reuters Ukraine attacked the occupied city of Melitopol; Russia says two people died 12/11/2022 12:42

Ukrainian officials, strategically placed and exiled by Russia, attacked the occupied Melitopol in the southeast of the country on Saturday night, Ukrainian officials said.

Pro-Moscow officials said a missile strike killed two and injured 10, while the exiled mayor said dozens of “occupants” had been killed.

Reuters was unable to immediately confirm reports of the attack or death.

“Air defense systems destroyed two missiles, four hit targets,” said Yevgeny Balitsky, the Moscow-appointed governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, on the Telegram messaging application.

A “recreation center” where people eat was destroyed in Ukraine’s HIMARS missile attack, he said.

The mayor in exile, Ivan Fedorov, said on his Telegram channel that the attack hit a church that the Russians had turned into a gathering place.

Vladimir Rogov, another official commissioned by Moscow in the Russian-controlled part of Zaporizhzhia, said that a large fire caused by the attack covered the recreation center. He posted a video of a burning building.

The HIMARS multi-rocket launcher is among Ukraine’s most effective weapons in the war, firing accurately at hundreds of targets, including Russian command posts. On Friday, the United States said it would send more aid to Kiev to strengthen its air defenses and defeat drones.

Air defense forces shot down five HIMARS rockets in the past 24 hours near the cities of Donetsk and Melitopol, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that Melitopol, a major industrial and transport hub that has been occupied by Russia since March, is key to the defense of the south.

“All the logistics connecting the Russian forces in the eastern part of the Kherson region to the Russian border near Mariupol is carried out from here,” Arestovych said in a video interview on social media.

“If Melitopol falls, the entire defensive line to Kherson collapses. Ukrainian forces gain a direct route to Crimea.”

The Ukrainian army has not yet made a statement about the attacks. Earlier in the day, the central command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said it carried out an airstrike on Melitopol.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces continued offensive operations near the town of Lyman in the Donetsk region and repelled Ukrainian counterattacks. The Russian ministry uses the city’s Russian name, Krasny Liman.

*Reported by Nick Starkov from Kiev; Written by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne.