Ukraine targets a major city in Crimea a day after striking the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet

At least nine people were killed and 16 others were injured as a result of Kiev’s attack on the Black Sea Fleet on Friday, Ukrainian intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told Voice of America on Saturday. He claimed that Alexander Romanchuk, the Russian general commanding forces along the main south-eastern front line, was “in an extremely serious condition” after the attack.

Budanov’s claim could not be independently verified, and he did not comment on whether Western-made missiles were used in Friday’s attack. The Russian Defense Ministry initially said the strike killed a service member at the Black Sea Fleet headquarters, but later issued a statement saying he was missing.

The Ukrainian military also provided more details about Friday’s attack. She added that the Air Force carried out 12 strikes on the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet, targeting areas where personnel, military equipment and weapons were stationed. It added that two anti-aircraft missile systems and four Russian artillery units were hit.

Crimea served as the main axis of support for Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Sevastopol, the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet since the 19th century, has been of particular importance for naval operations since the beginning of the war.

Ukraine has increasingly targeted naval facilities in Crimea in recent weeks, while the brunt of its summer counteroffensive is making slow gains in eastern and southern Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War said. Military experts say it is necessary for Ukraine to continue its attacks on targets in Crimea to weaken Russian morale and weaken its army.

In other developments, President Joe Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart at their White House meeting on Thursday that the United States would give Ukraine a version of longer-range ATACMS ballistic missiles, without specifying how many or when they would be delivered, according to US officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly before the official announcement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian leaders have long urged the United States and other Western allies to provide long-range weapons that would enable Kiev to intensify its strikes behind Russian lines while remaining out of firing range themselves.

The United States has so far refrained from doing so, fearing that Kiev would use weapons to strike deep into Russian territory and escalate the conflict. The Army’s tactical missile system, known as ATACMS, could give Ukraine the ability to strike Russian targets from up to about 180 miles away, but the United States also has other types of the missile with shorter ranges.

Elsewhere, the Ukrainian army said on Saturday that Russia had launched 15 Iranian-made “Shahed” drones on the front line in the Zaporizhzhya region in the southeast, as well as the Dnipropetrovsk region in the far north. It claimed to have destroyed 14 drones.

Separately, the governor of the Zaporizhzhya region, Yuri Malashko, said that over the previous day, Russia had carried out 86 raids on 27 settlements in the region, many of which were located just a few miles from the fighting. Malashko said that an 82-year-old civilian was killed by artillery fire.

In neighboring Kherson region, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said a 65-year-old woman was killed on Saturday when a Russian shell hit the courtyard of her home, while a 78-year-old man was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries after a Russian drone went down. Dropping explosives.

Prokudin said earlier in a separate statement that at least one person was killed and three others were injured during the previous day due to Russian bombing. Prokudin said that Russia fired 25 shells targeting the city of Kherson, located along the Dnieper River, which represents the line of contact between the warring parties.

He added that residential neighborhoods were bombed, including medical and educational institutions and stations set up by the government to provide food and drinks, as well as vital infrastructure facilities and a prison.

In the eastern Donetsk region, where heavy fighting is taking place on the outskirts of Bakhmut, Russian bombing killed one civilian and injured another on Friday and overnight, local governor Ihor Moroz said on Saturday.