"Powerful explosions" occurred in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, followed by black smoke blowing over a former factory turned into a Russian military base, exiled Mayor Ivan Fedorov said on May 30.
The Avtokolorlyt nonferrous metal plant is located at the southwestern exit from Melitopol in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
"The occupiers immediately reported "air defense hit," but smoke rises from the ground to the sky," added Fedorov, who is now in Ukrainian-controlled territory and reports based on sources in Melitopol.
He didn't provide any further details on the results of the explosions.
Melitopol, a city with a population of about 150,000 people, has been occupied since late February 2022. The city serves as a railway center for Russian forces in southern Ukraine and is part of the land bridge that links Russia to the occupied Crimean peninsula.
Explosions occur regularly in the occupied territories as local Ukrainian partisan movements target occupation authorities, collaborators, and Russian military equipment. Moscow usually blames Ukraine for such incidents, while Kyiv doesn't take responsibility for the explosions.
Ukrainian forces have recently started using U.K.-provided Storm Shadow long-range missiles that can reach targets deep into Russian-occupied territories.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on May 28 that all the Storm Shadow missiles launched by the Ukrainian military to date hit their targets.
Agatha Gorski
