Ukraine has launched several missiles that caused multiple explosions in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol located in the southern parts of the country, in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, damaging a Russian military barracks.
The attacks came amid reports from officials from both sides that Ukraine had launched a missile strike targeting the city of Melitopol on Saturday. On the other hand, Russian state media said that 20 missiles struck the Donetsk People's Republic on Sunday morning.
Russian-Ukraine War
There were also other reports that spread detailing several explosions in Russian-annexed Crimea, including some at a military barracks in Sovietske. Moscow-installed administrators in Melitopol said that four missiles struck the city that resulted in two fatalities and 10 injuries.
On the other hand, the city's mayor reported several explosions, including ones that hit a church occupied by Russian forces, But Ukrainian officials have not commented on the missile strikes that hit Crimea or the Donetsk People's Republic, as per CNN.
Melitopol is found in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Oblast and has been under the control of Russian forces since early March. Moscow's acting governor of Zaporizhzhia, Yevgeny Balitsky, said that the missile attack on the city had "completely destroyed" a recreation center where "people, civilians, and [military' base personnel were having dinner on Saturday night."
Ukraine's former administrator of Melitopol city, Ivan Fedorov, acknowledged the strikes that rocked the region, saying that they had targeted Russian military bases. Last month, Federov said that Russia had turned the city into "one giant military base."
According to the New York Times, the attacks come amid rising global tensions over the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Specifically, Germany and Poland, both of which are crucial members of the European Union and NATO, have had a growing rift in relations over the course of the war.
Support for Ukraine
The nature of the two nations' relationship was underscored in recent times by a German offer to provide two batteries of scarce and expensive Patriot air defense missiles to Poland. This came after a Ukrainian missile strayed off course and killed two citizens from the latter last month in the town of Przewodow.
Initially, Polish authorities accepted Germany's offer of the Patriots but later rejected it, insisting that the batteries should instead be sent to Ukraine. After widespread concern among allies and its people, they seem to have now accepted the offer once again.
The regional managing director of the German Marshall Fund in Warsaw, Michal Baranowski, said that the whole story was similar to an X-ray of miserable "Polish-German relations." He added that it was worse than he had previously expected, noting that he has been observing it for a very long time.
On the other hand, the Pentagon was not more likely to support Ukrainian long-range missile attacks on Russia after an allegedly changed assessment of the war and the "suffering" that Ukrainian citizens are now facing.
Despite the United States government publicly taking the stance of not encouraging Ukraine to strike beyond its borders, the Biden administration has seemingly revised its assessment of the conflict. An anonymous U.S. defense source said that the decision was made amid the "fear of escalation," Business Insider reported.
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