Ukraine’s army destroys two enemy military bases in Melitopol – mayor
Melitopol (Photo:REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko)
Two blasts hit Russian military bases in the occupied town of Melitopol of Zaporizhzhya Oblast on the evening of March 5, the mayor of the city, Ivan Fedorov, said later on Ukrainian national television.
“Two powerful explosions were heard in the northern districts of the city,” Fedorov said.
“There is already information that two objects where ‘the Rushists’ (Russian fascists) were located have been destroyed.”
According to preliminary information, hundreds of invading Russian troops may have been killed. However, the General Staff of the Armed Forces will provide exact figures and complete information, Fedorov said.
Earlier, on March 1, Fedorov reported that there had been explosions at the airfield in Russia-occupied Melitopol. Then he added that the Russian invaders had a “smoke break go wrong,” using a common Ukrainian joke that attributes attacks likely carried out by the Ukrainian military to the careless disposal of cigarette ends by Russian troops.
Later, he noted that invading Russian forces were bringing military equipment and personnel to Melitopol. He said the enemy was preparing to defend the city against an expected Ukrainian attack.
Many military experts expect that a coming Ukrainian offensive in the spring will be aimed at thrusting into Zaporizhzhya Oblast, liberating the city of Melitopol. If Ukrainian forces reach the coast in the south of the oblast, they will cut off the “land bridge” that connects Crimea to Russia through Ukrainian territory, leaving only the Kerch Bridge as a means of reaching the peninsula from Russia, experts say.
Ukraine’s Crimea has been under Russian military occupation since the start of the war over nine years ago, in February 2014.
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