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Dramatic footage has surfaced online appearing to show the destruction of a Russian ammunition depot in contested southern Ukrainian territory as Kyiv's counteroffensive makes gains.
Heavy smoke and orange flames are visible in a clip widely circulating on social media, and also shared by Ukrainian military and regional officials.
A spokesperson for Ukraine's air force said on Sunday that Kyiv's forces had struck a Russian ammunition storage site in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian media. Moscow has said it has annexed Kherson, along with the Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of mainland Ukraine, but this is not internationally recognized.
Newsweek could not independently verify the location or timing of the clip.
The explosion reportedly took place in the Kherson village of Rykove, close to the port city of Henichesk, which is under Russian control, according to Ukrainian officials. The ammo storage facility was located at the Partyzany railway station near Rykove, the commander of Ukraine's air force said, according to local media.
"The Ukrainian South makes Russians VERY nervous today," Sergey Bratchuk, of Odesa's regional military administration, wrote on Telegram.
"Our armed forces dealt a good blow in the morning—and a very loud one—in the village of Rykove, Henichesk district, in the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson region," Bratchuk said in a video message, according to Reuters.
It was a "very significant ammunition depot," he added.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
This comes as Ukraine's long-anticipated counteroffensive appears to be gathering pace, with gains reported for Kyiv's fighters across southern and eastern Ukraine.
On Sunday, Moscow said "the most active actions" took place in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, but added that counteroffensive operations were carried out in Donetsk.
Also on Sunday, the British Defense Ministry said the "most intense combat" was taking place in Zaporizhzhia, western Donetsk and around the embattled city of Bakhmut.
A huge Russian ammunition depot was hit this morning in Rykove, near the town of Henichesk (Kherson oblast, near the entrance from Ukraine's mainland to Crimea). It is reported that key railway infrastrcture allowing Russian arms deliveries through Crimea could also be hit pic.twitter.com/IqeoevDVzt
— UkraineWorld (@ukraine_world) June 18, 2023
Russia has carried out "relatively effective defensive operations" in the south, the government department said, although Ukraine has made "small advances" in these areas.
Ukrainian forces are pushing in "several directions at once," Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister, Hanna Maliar, said in a post to social media on Friday.
"Practically in all areas and directions where our units advance in the south, they have tactical success," she added. Ukraine had gained just over a mile of territory in several, unnamed areas, she said.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more