Ukraine destroys major ammunition dump behind Russian lines
Ukraine struck a “significant” ammunition dump in a Russian-occupied village deep behind the front lines, new satellite imagery has shown.
The pictures showed widespread destruction of the alleged supply depot in Rykove, more than 70 miles behind the front line in the southern Kherson region.
“This was a very significant ammunition depot. It has been destroyed,” said Odesa’s military administration.
The images, released by Planet Labs, appeared to show a series of warehouse buildings razed to the ground, while an adjacent railroad was completely destroyed.
Rykov is located on the railway between occupied Crimea and Melitopol.
The village, which had a pre-war population of around 4,000, is considered an important logistical hub for Russian forces.
The strike may have been designed to disrupt Russian lines of communications as the Ukrainian counter-offensive gathers pace.
Air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missiles, donated by Britain to Kyiv’s forces, have a typical range of 155 miles, enabling Ukraine to strike deep behind the front lines.
The GMLRS rockets Ukraine fires from its Himars and M270 multi-launch rocket systems are usually described as having a range of about 50 miles.
On Tuesday, Russia claimed that Ukraine was planning strikes on Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, with Himars and Storm Shadow missiles.
Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister, said: “The use of these missiles outside the zone of implementation of the special military operation will mark the full involvement of the US and Great Britain in the conflict and will entail immediate attacks on decision-making centres on Ukrainian territory.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials have warned that Russian troops are still trying to advance, despite Kyiv’s counter-offensive.
In its daily update on Tuesday, Ukraine’s general staff said Moscow’s forces had launched “offensive actions” in both the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The report said Russian troops had attacked villages close to the Donetsk region town of Lyman, and in other areas.
Russia has made small gains near the towns of Svatove and Kreminna in the neighbouring Luhansk region, according to a report by the US-based Institute for the Study of War think tank.
“Despite the fact that the offensive of our armed forces continues in several directions in the south, the Russians also have their own directions of attack, and they are also going on the offensive,” said Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister.
Her boss, Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, said on Tuesday that the counter-offensive would be much slower than the rapid gains made last September, when Kyiv’s forces liberated much of the Kharkiv region in weeks.
He said Ukraine’s armed forces were battling terrain, poor weather conditions and a Russian enemy that is well-prepared to defend territories it occupies.
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said late on Monday: “In some areas our warriors are moving forward; in some areas they are defending their positions and resisting the occupiers’ assaults and intensified attacks.”
