Russian Launches Numerous Overnight Strikes in Ukraine

The Russian military claimed that it launched strikes on 32 military targets in Ukraine during the night.

The spokesman for the Russian DefenCe Ministry, Igor Konashenkov made the announcement on Tuesday.

He said a Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile system, as well as an ammunition depot and an aircraft hangar with Ukrainian air force technology, were destroyed, among other targets.

The authorities also reported fierce night-time fighting in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol.

“The remnants of the Ukrainian armed forces trapped on the territory of the Ilyich plant [iron and steel works] made an unsuccessful attempt to break out of the city,” said Konashenkov.

According to him, around 100 Ukrainian soldiers attempted to break out; half of them were killed. This information was initially not independently verifiable.

The Russian military had previously reported on the extensive capture of Mariupol. Remaining Ukrainian forces were entrenched in another steel plant in the city called Azovstal.

Eduard Basurin, a spokesman for the pro-Russian separatists, suggested on Monday that the Ukrainians there, especially members of the nationalist Azov regiment, should be “smoked out” with chemical weapons.

The Azov regiment then reported that poison gas had been used, but this has not yet been confirmed by the official Ukrainian side.

dpa/NAN