Ukraine: Ukraine says Russian Navy officials among dead; hits Crimea again

KYIV: Ukraine has reported breaking through Russian defence lines in the south as its army said Saturday that senior Russian navy commanders were among dozens killed or wounded in a missile attack on Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Crimea.
Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces shared on their social media that a special op dubbed ‘Crab Trap’ was timed to strike while senior members of Russia‘s Navy were meeting. They noted that the attack left dozens dead and wounded “including the senior leadership of the fleet.”
Russian-installed authorities in occupied Crimea said Ukrainian forces targeted the peninsula with another air attack Saturday, the second in two days as Kyiv increasingly takes aim at the region in an effort to disrupt Moscow’s military operations. Mikhail Razvozhayev, the governor of Sevastopol, Crimea’s largest city and the home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, said air defenses had been activated in the area and that debris from a downed rocket fell in the bay.
Along the battle lines, the use of heavy weapons supplied by the West in the fierce battle raging on the outskirts of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia in May, is inflicting a significant toll on enemy, Ukrainian commanders have told Reuters. Buoyed after the capture last week of the key village of Klishchiivka, Ukrainian troops have lauded the 155 millimetre howitzers as key equipment. Unit commander Oleksandr said Ukraine’s armed forces “very much rely” on heavy artillery, including the Polish-made Krab gun and the US-made M109 self-propelled howitzer.
In the Zaporizhzhia area, the Ukrainian general leading the counteroffensive said the advance was still underway. “On the left flank (near the village of Verbove) we have a breakthrough and we continue to advance further,” general Oleksandr Tarnavskiy told CNN.