Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevich said cluster bombs were blowing out windows and destroying balconies. “Mykolaiv came under mass shelling today. Probably the heaviest of all time,” he said in a statement.
A CNN crew on the ground heard explosions from the strikes and saw fire from the shelling. Residents interviewed by CNN said it was the worst shelling in the city since the war began.
According to Vitaly Kim, head of the Mykolaiv regional military administration, at least one person was killed and two others were wounded in the attack.
In a speech commemorating Russia’s Navy Day in St. Petersburg, Putin made no mention of Russia’s war in Ukraine, but said his country’s “current situation demands very decisive measures.”
“We will provide security resolutely and by all means. The key here is the capability of the navy, which can respond with lightning speed to anyone who decides to invade our sovereignty and independence,” Putin said.
War crimes charges
Separately, fighting in eastern Ukraine left at least three people dead and eight wounded, according to Donetsk’s military-civilian administration, which said villages in the region were targeted by artillery, Russian Grad missiles and Hurricane rockets.
“11 private residential buildings and one high-rise building, one police station, one market, one canteen were damaged and three fields were burnt,” the administration said.
The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russian forces were attacking the front lines in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
“Everything is being organised. Full support, full assistance — both logistics and fees,” he said in his late night speech. “We just need a decision from the people, they haven’t made themselves yet.”
UK Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons said on Twitter on Saturday that the strike was part of “the worst kind of human rights abuses”. “Olenivka needs to be investigated. It appears to be part of a worrying pattern of human rights abuses and possible war crimes being committed with impunity in Ukraine’s occupied east,” the ambassador tweeted.
Zelensky said the attack was a “deliberate war crime by the Russians”.
Ukrainian intelligence said the attacks were carried out by Russian mercenary Wagner and were not coordinated with the Russian Defense Ministry. CNN cannot independently verify allegations by Ukrainian military intelligence.
Russia has blamed Ukraine for the attack.
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