The situation in the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions of southern Ukraine is “increasingly hostile” after the loss of a Russian warship in the Black Sea, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.
“Over the past day, the situation in southern Ukraine has been characterized by increasing hostile aggression,” Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command said in a video statement.
“Desperately trying to gain a foothold and maintain the southern front positions, the most shameful army in the world is chasing civilians in the Mykolayiv and Kherson regions,” the statement added. “Sniper work has been recorded in some areas.”
Russian forces were “enraged by the losses in the Black Sea” — an apparent reference to the sinking of the Russian guided missile cruiser Moskva — and “intensified the missile threat” in the region, the statement continued.
Mykolaiv and several other settlements in the region are under heavy fire, including from cluster munitions, the statement said. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine previously said it had received allegations that Russian armed forces used cluster munitions in populated areas of the country.
The non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) also confirmed the use of cluster munitions (projectiles that open in the air) by Russia during the conflict. Some background: The Moskva — one of the most important warships of the Russian Navy — sank in the Black Sea on Thursday (14).
Ukraine claims it hit Moskva with missiles, causing it to sink. Russia insisted that the reason for the sinking was a fire. On Friday, the United States backed Ukraine’s bill, with a top defense official saying he believes two Ukrainian Neptune missiles hit the Russian warship in the Black Sea.
Now the question remains whether at the bottom of the sea as a victim of Ukrainian missiles, Russian incompetence, bad luck or a combination of all three remains in dispute.
On Friday, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in southern Ukraine suggested that Russian missile strikes in the south since Thursday night were retaliation for the Moskva’s descent, telling a news conference that “all we realize that we will not be forgiven.”
“We realize that attacks on us will increase, that the enemy will try to take revenge,” Humeniuk said. “We are ready, we are resisting.”
With information from Tim Lister, Olga Voitovych and Brad Lendon of CNN
Source: CNN Brasil
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