Five killed in Russian attacks in Ukraine, Ukrainian officials say

Ukrainian unit breach mine defences as part of a southern counteroffensive, near Hulyaipole, in Zaporizhzhia

KYIV (Reuters) -Three people were killed in an overnight Russian missile strike in central Ukraine, and two died in shelling later on Monday in the east and south. Ukrainian officials said.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the three people were killed at an industrial plant in central Poltava region. Five were wounded and another person was unaccounted for, he said.

Presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said those killed were night shift workers at a vegetable oil factory in the Myrhorod district and posted photos showing the plant in flames. Klymenko said the fire had later been extinguished.

Oleksandr Prokudin, governor of southern Kherson region, said a 63-year-old woman had been killed in the mid-morning shelling of the village of Sadove.

Russian shelling killed a man working outside his home in the early evening in Toretsk, in eastern Donetsk region, prosecutors said.

The Ukrainian military said Russia had launched four missiles from the Black Sea overnight. Two were shot down.

Other reports from Ukrainian officials described heavy Russian shelling of Marhanets, opposite the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, with four people injured.

Regional officials reported three injured in the shelling of nine localities in northern Sumy region.

Ukraine's military also said central Kryvyi Rih region in had been struck in a missile attack. Local authorities said private houses were damaged, but reported no casualties.

The reports could not be independently confirmed. Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine 18 months ago, did not immediately comment.

On Monday, Ukraine said its troops had liberated the southeastern settlement of Robotyne and were trying to push farther south in their two-month-old counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; additional reporting by Anna Pruchnicka; editing by Timothy Heritage, Ron Popeski and Grant McCool)