Ukrainian soldiers prepare their ammunition at the frontline positions. Photo / AP
Ukrainian soldiers prepare their ammunition at the frontline positions. Photo / AP
Russian missiles have struck either a weapons fuel plant or ammunition dump, triggering multiple explosions in a blow to Ukrainian plans for a counter-offensive.
Moscow launched a significant wave of missile strikes on targets across Ukraine, the second in four days, in what the Ukrainian military believes could be an attempt to disrupt a much-anticipated spring attack.
Bombers from the Arctic and the Caspian Sea launched 18 rockets and Ukraine’s air defence shot down 15 of them, said Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief.
One of the rockets appears to have hit a major chemical plant or an ammunition dump as videos from the town of Pavlodar in the central Dnipro region released by Russian and Ukrainian media showed multiple explosions and flashes of light rising over the horizon.
The size of the blast suggests that Russia may have hit an important arms depot in an apparent bid to hinder Kyiv’s preparations as it aims to recover lost territory.
It was not immediately clear what lay at the site of the explosion but Ukrainian media reported in 2020 that Pavlodar housed a major chemical plant where large amounts of solid rocket fuel were stored.
In the rural area nearby, at least 34 people, five of them children, were injured as 24 blocks of flats and 80 private houses were damaged, according to the Emergency Services Ministry.
Women cry next to a memorial for the victims who died during a Russian attack. Photo / AP
Distraught villagers were seen walking around their damaged or destroyed houses.
On Monday, the Russian military denied attacking civilians and insisted that the strike had focused on military targets.
“All the designated sites have been hit,” the defence ministry said.
“We have disrupted the work of the factories that produce ammunition, armaments and equipment for the Ukrainian army.”
In a Russian region that borders Ukraine, a train carrying fuel and construction material was derailed after someone apparently planted a bomb on the tracks.
In a video filmed by residents, a locomotive and several railcars were seen lying on the side of the tracks with flames rising over one of the freight cars.
The derailment appears to be one of the few major acts of sabotage on Russian infrastructure since the start of the invasion.
On Monday, Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region, said an explosive device detonated on the 136th kilometre of the railway between Bryansk and Unecha, about 70km from the border with Ukraine.
A Ukrainian soldier fires an RPG during his training at the frontline positions. Photo / AP
Russian Railways, the country’s rail operator, said seven freight cars derailed and the locomotive was set alight.
Two Russian media outlets linked to security agencies said that authorities were looking for two male suspects who were seen nearby on CCTV.
Traffic has been suspended on that stretch of the railway, according to Bogomaz. The disruption appeared to be so severe that trains going southwest to the city of Homiel in Belarus were also cut off, the country’s authorities said.
Earlier on Monday, power pylons were blown up in northwestern Russia outside St Petersburg in what the FSB security service called an act of sabotage.
Counter-offensive will ‘go far’
Meanwhile, a top Ukrainian general used a social media post to claim that his forces have pushed out Russian troops from some positions around the strategic city of Bakhmut.
On Monday, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrsky, commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, described the situation around Bakhmut as “difficult” but said that his troops had counter-attacked and ousted the Russians from “certain parts of the city”.
A Ukrainian soldier at the frontline. Photo / AP
There were no independent reports to confirm the claims.
Later on Monday, Ukraine’s defence minister said that the country’s forces are well prepared for the counter-offensive.
“We’re at the finish line when we can say: ‘Yes, everything is ready’,” Oleksiy Reznikov said, adding that it is now only a matter of time before military command launches it.
