Ukrainian rockets reportedly strike Russian forces, killing 52

Ukrainian rockets struck Russian forces in the country’s south on Tuesday and killed 52 people, Kyiv said.

The attack, which has not been independently verified, apparently hit the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region with long-range rockets.

The rockets also destroyed Russian ammunition, including seven armored vehicles, Ukraine’s southern military command said.

Ukraine said the strike signals their new counter-offensive to hit back at the Kremlin in the south with hundreds of thousands of troops.

Russian officials said they had been attacked by HIMARS missiles, which have recently been provided to Ukraine by the US and hailed by Kyiv as a “game-changer” in its fight.

“There are still many people under the rubble. The injured are being taken to the hospital, but many people are blocked in their apartments and houses,” a Russian news agency quoted a military official saying. The Kremlin said so far at least seven people have died and around 60 are injured.

Ukraine has said it will intensify its attacks in the region, and is warning its citizens still in embattled city of Kherson to evacuate.

“It’s clear there will be fighting, there will be artillery shelling … and we therefore urge [people] to evacuate urgently,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Sunday. “I know for sure that there should not be women and children there, and that they should not become human shields.”

News of Ukraine’s attack comes as it announced 35 people have been declared dead after Russia attacked an apartment block in Chasiv Yar, an eastern city in the Donetsk region.

At least 12 Ukrainians were also injured in the south overnight Tuesday in the city of Mykolaiv.

With Post wires