Russian missiles smash Ukrainian homes as Moscow warns of ‘uncontrolled escalation’
Global News
Ukraine's advances in recent weeks around Kherson and in the country's northeast have been met with intensifying Russian missile and drone attacks on civilian infrastructure.
Under pressure in the south of Ukraine, Russia fired missiles and drones into Ukrainian-held Mykolaiv on Sunday, destroying an apartment block in the ship-building city near the front and warning the war was trending toward “uncontrolled escalation.”
Mykolaiv lies roughly 35 kilometres northwest of the front line to occupied Kherson, the southern region that is the target of a major offensive by Ukrainian forces to retake territory Russia captured soon after the Feb. 24 invasion.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who Russian nationalists have blamed for Moscow’s setbacks in the war, discussed the “rapidly deteriorating situation” in calls with his French and Turkish counterparts, the ministry said.
Shoigu said Ukraine could escalate with a “dirty bomb,” conventional explosives laced with radioactive material, without providing evidence. Ukraine does not possess nuclear weapons, while Russia has said it could protect Russian territory with its nuclear arsenal.
In one conventional Russian attack on Sunday, a missile strike wiped out the top floor of an apartment block in Mykolaiv, propelling shrapnel and debris across a plaza and into neighboring buildings where windows buckled and walls cracked. Cars were crushed under the rubble, Reuters witnessed. No fatalities were reported.
“After the first blast, I tried to get out, but the door was stuck. After a minute or two, there was a second loud blast. Our door was blown into the corridor,” said Oleksandr Mezinov, 50, who was awoken from his bed by the blasts.
Ukraine shot down 14 Russian “kamikaze” drones over Mykolaiv overnight, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram. The drones are designed to explode on impact and have hammered Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this month.
Kim said Russia also attacked with S-300 missiles, one of which hit the five-story apartment building.