A Ukrainian attack on the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula using five US-supplied missiles has killed at least three people including two children and injured 100 more, Russian officials say.
The Russian Defence Ministry said four of the US-delivered Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles, equipped with cluster warheads, were shot down by air defence systems and the ammunition of a fifth had detonated in mid-air.
Russian-installed authorities said missile fragments fell near a beach on the north side of the city of Sevastopol where locals were holidaying.
About a hundred people were injured, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, said on Telegram.
Television footage on Russian state television showed people running from a beach and some people being carried off on sun loungers.
Reuters was unable to immediately verify battlefield reports from either side.
Ukraine has not commented.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
The peninsula has been under Russian control ever since and the Kremlin considers it a part of Russia’s territory although most of the world considers it to be part of Ukraine.
The Russian Defence Ministry said the United States, which supplied Ukraine with ATACMS missiles, was primarily responsible for the missile attack on civilians in Sevastopol.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia intends to seek a response from international organisations to the shelling of the area.
The United States has been supplying the Ukrainian army with longer range ATACMS missiles with a 300-km range since earlier this year.
Meanwhile, one other person was killed and three injured in Russia’s Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, when three Ukrainian drones attacked the city of Grayvoron, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Air defences overnight shot down 33 Ukrainian drones over Russia’s western Bryansk, Smolensk, Lipetsk and Tula regions, the Russian Ministry of Defence said on Sunday.
Earlier, Ukrainian regional governor Oleh Synehubov said Russian strikes on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv killed one person and injured ten others.
“The occupiers have conducted strikes on the civilian infrastructure of Kharkiv,” Synehubov wrote on Telegram, adding that the strikes appeared to have been conducted with glide bombs.
Russia has regularly bombed Kharkiv throughout its 28-month full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russian troops are currently about 20km from the city’s outskirts, having gained some ground in a May offensive from the border.
In a video address following the attack on Kharkiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Ukraine’s allies to bolster its air defences.
“Modern air defence systems for Ukraine – such as Patriots, accelerated training of our pilots for F-16s, and most importantly, sufficient range for our weapons – are truly necessary,” he said.
with AP