Ukraine's Southern Command spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk said on Feb. 23 that the area of Russian-occupied Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast was "no longer completely unreachable" for Ukrainian forces.
Earlier the same day, the city council reported three explosions in Mariupol with "a high probability" of hitting the area where Russian troops had been temporarily stationed.
The Feb. 23 explosions were heard in the area of the Mariupol metallurgical plant, according to the council. It added that there were no traces of the Russian air defense work in the sky.
"At this stage, we can only state that remoteness is a very relative concept. What is considered so remote that it is unreachable is not always such," Humeniuk added.
Explosions were also reported in Mariupol on the evening of Feb. 22. The day before, a Russian ammunition warehouse was destroyed in the city, the Mariupol City Council reported.
Mariupol, located on the Azov Sea in Donetsk Oblast, has been under Russian occupation since May 2022, following a three-month-long siege that left most of the city destroyed.
