Russian missiles hit Ukraine’s Odesa region as war nears half-year mark

Artillery shells rained down on a city close to Europe’s biggest nuclear plant overnight and Russian missiles hit targets near Odesa, a Ukrainian Black Sea port and grain export hub, as the war headed for its six-month milestone on Wednesday.

August 24 will also mark 31 years of Ukraine’s independence from Soviet rule and President Volodymyr Zelensky in a nightly video address called for vigilance, saying Moscow could try “something particularly ugly”.

Russian authorities said on Sunday they were investigating a suspected car bomb attack outside Moscow that killed the daughter of Alexander Dugin, an ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue who advocates Russia absorbing Ukraine.

While the investigators said they were considering “all versions” when it came to establishing who was responsible, the Russian Foreign Ministry speculated there could be a link to Ukraine, something a Zelensky adviser dismissed.

As Ukraine prepared to mark its Independence Day embroiled in a war that has flattened towns and cities, killed thousands and forced millions to flee, military and regional officials reported more Russian strikes on targets in the east and south of the country.

Of particular concern was the shelling of Nikopol, a city lying across the Dnipro river from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s and Europe’s biggest nuclear plant. It has been held by Russian forces since March.

Nikopol was shelled on five different occasions overnight, regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko wrote on Telegram. He said 25 artillery shells hit the city, causing a fire at an industrial premises and cutting power to 3,000 residents.

The fighting in the proximity of Zaporizhzhia and Saturday’s missile strike on the southern Ukrainian town of Voznesensk, not far from Ukraine’s second-largest atomic plant, has spurred fears of a nuclear accident.

On Sunday, US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a phone call stressing the importance of ensuring the safety of nuclear installations, while underlining their “steadfast commitment” to Ukraine.

Local authorities also reported overnight missile attacks in the Odesa region, home to ports critical to a UN-brokered plan to help Ukrainian agricultural exports, key to global food supplies, reach world markets again.

Five Russian Kalibr cruise missiles were fired from the Black Sea at the region overnight, the regional administration spokesperson said, citing information from the southern military command. Two were shot down by Ukrainian air defences and three hit agricultural targets, but there were no casualties.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had destroyed two M777 Howitzers in combat positions in the Kherson region, and a fuel depot in the Zaporizhzhia region.