Violent bombardment of Mykolaiv, in the South
The city of Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine, was the target of massive Russian bombardments, probably “the strongest” since the start of the war in February, which left two dead, authorities announced on Sunday.
“Mykolaiv came under heavy shelling today. Probably the strongest so far,” city mayor Oleksandr Senkevych wrote on Telegram, noting that “powerful explosions” were heard twice overnight from Saturday to Sunday.
The governor of the region, Vitali Kim, reported two deaths, a couple of civilians, in these strikes. Other strikes hit the regions of Kharkiv (east) and Sumy (north-east).
The Russian Fleet will acquire a new hypersonic missile, Putin announces
The Russian Fleet will acquire “in the coming months” a new Zircon hypersonic cruise missile which “knows no obstacles”, President Vladimir Putin announced on Sunday. The Russian Fleet “is capable of inflicting a lightning response to all those who decide to undermine our sovereignty and freedom”, he assured during a naval parade in Saint Petersburg (north-west), in emphasizing “their delivery to the Russian armed forces will begin in the coming months”.
Ukraine denies attacking Russian fleet in Crimea
Ukraine denied on Sunday having attacked the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea with a drone, a strike which injured six according to Moscow, calling the Russian accusations a “deliberate provocation”.
Russian accusations of “a so-called Ukrainian attack on the Russian Fleet Headquarters in Sevastopol” are “a deliberate provocation”, Odessa regional government spokesman Sergii Brachuk said in a statement. video on Telegram. “The liberation of Ukrainian-occupied Crimea will happen in another, much more efficient way,” he added.
In Cyprus, a summer without Russian tourists
In Ayia Napa, a popular seaside resort in Cyprus, the party has resumed, but without the flow of Russian tourists, once the second largest contingent of visitors after the British, a void difficult to fill. “This year, we expected 800,000 Russian tourists” (as in 2019), Haris Loizides, head of the Cyprus Hotel Association, told AFP. A threshold now impossible to reach because in the first six months of the year, only 17,000 Russian tourists came to the Mediterranean island, according to official statistics.
The Russian market “was wiped out overnight” following EU sanctions after Moscow invaded Ukraine, says Christos Angelidis, president of the Pancyprian Association of Hotel Managers.
Nicosia and Moscow have close political and cultural ties, but when Russia sent troops to Ukraine, the Cypriot parliament unanimously passed a resolution condemning the invasion.
Festivities canceled in Crimea
All festivities related to Russian Fleet Day “have been canceled for security reasons”, announced the governor of Sevastopol M. Razvojayev, after the attack of a drone. Extensive celebrations are planned for this holiday across Russia, including a naval parade in Saint Petersburg (northwest), which is to be overseen by President Vladimir Putin.
In Crimea, drone attack against the staff of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, five injured
A drone attack on Sunday targeted the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, injuring five, said the governor of this city of the annexed peninsula of Crimea, Mikhail Razvojayev. “This morning, Ukrainian nationalists decided to spoil Russian Fleet Day for us” celebrated in Russia this Sunday, wrote Mr. Razvojayev on Telegram. He specified that a drone had landed in the courtyard of the staff of the Fleet and reported five injured among the employees of the staff.
Zelensky calls for evacuation of Donetsk region
The Ukrainian president on Saturday evening called on the population to evacuate the Donetsk region in the east of the country, whose cities are the target of bombardments by Russian forces, in a video address. “A government decision has been taken on the mandatory evacuation of the Donetsk region (…) Please evacuate,” he added. “At this stage of the war, terror is Russia’s main weapon. »
France condemns the treatment of Ukrainian prisoners
“France expresses its horror at the reports of assassinations and acts of torture against Ukrainian prisoners of war in the detention center of Olenivka (Ukrainian town located in the Donbass, editor’s note), under the protection of the Federation of Russia”, declared on Saturday the Quai d’Orsay in a press release. It would be the prison in which the fighters of the Azov regiment, defenders of Mariupol, are detained.