An explosion in an occupied port city that serves as a crucial strategic hub for Moscow has apparently exposed Russia to a new attack.
Around noon, a massive column of smoke could be seen rising above the Berdyansk docks in the Zaporizhzhia area of southeast Ukraine.
In late February, Russia annexed Berdyansk, saying that Ukrainian soldiers had shelled the city on the Sea of Azov.
‘The port came under fire and there seem to be no people killed or wounded,’ Vladimir Rogov said on Telegram, according to the Russian news agency TASS.
‘The air defences were at work, shooting down some of the incoming shells.’
The Berdiansk City Military Administration said in on Telegram that Ukraine was behind the attack, the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported.
‘We thank the [Ukrainian Armed Forces] for bringing the liberation of the city closer,’ it said.
Ivan Fedorov, the Mayor of Melitopol, added on Telegram that the ‘loud’ blast was felt in the ‘whole suburb’.
Berdyansk is only 100km from the front line and has given the Kremlin an easy way to bring in supplies and troops to Mariupol and eastern Ukraine.
Zaporizhzhia is one of five regions Russia has claimed to have annexed that includes the Crimea peninsula.
Moscow also suffered another setback today when two women were reportedly killed amid intense shelling in Belgorod, only 40km north of the Ukrainian border.
An explosive device was dropped on the Shebekinsky district, shaking homes and wounding a child and an adult, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
The two women were struck by shrapnel as they were travelling in a car near the village of Maslova Pristan.
Officials in neighbouring Kursk and Bryansk said buildings had been damaged by the shelling and an overnight drone attack.
Thousands of locals in the area have been evacuated along the border amid the grinding conflict.
On Thursday, Russia’s defence ministry said it had downed three cross-border attacks near the town of Shebekino.
Ukrainian’s military denied any involvement in the strike, claiming it is the work of Russian anti-government volunteer fighters.
The assaults are the latest attacks against Russia – that included a drone attack on Moscow itself – as tension rises ahead of Ukraine’s counter-offensive.