Ukraine carried out missile strikes on the Russian-held southern city of Melitopol on Saturday evening, the Kremlin-installed local authorities and Ukrainian officials confirmed.
The strategically located city, which had a prewar population of just over 150,000 people, is located in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia which Moscow claims to have annexed.
Russian-installed officials and Ukrainian authorities issued conflicting reports about the target of the strikes and the casualties, and AFP was not immediately able to verify the information.
Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russia-installed head of the Zaporizhzhia region, said that using U.S.-supplied HIMARS long-range rocket launchers, Ukrainian troops struck Melitopol at around 9:00 pm Saturday.
He claimed that the attack had destroyed a "recreation center" on the outskirts of Melitopol, killed two people and injured another 10. The place was hit when people were eating dinner, he added.
Balitsky said two rockets had been shot down, while another four reached their target.
Another Moscow-installed regional official, Vladimir Rogov, released a picture of a major fire ravaging the "recreation center."
Ivan Fedorov, the exiled mayor of Melitopol, said for his part that Ukrainian forces hit Russian troops in Melitopol and that dozens of "invaders" had been killed.
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Oleksiy Arestovych, said Melitopol, a major industrial and transport center occupied by Russia since March, was key to the defense of the south.
"All logistics linking the Russian forces on the eastern part of the Kherson region and all the way to the Russian border near Mariupol is carried out through it," Arestovych said in a video interview on social media.
"If Melitopol falls, the entire defense line all the way to Kherson collapses. Ukrainian forces gain a direct route to Crimea."
There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian army about the attacks. Earlier in the day, the central command of Ukraine's Armed Forces said it had been conducting strikes on Melitopol.
Also on Saturday, over 1.5 million people were without power in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa after a night attack by Russian "kamikaze drones", President Zelenskyy said.
The region's energy authority warned that repairs after the Friday strikes would take weeks, perhaps up to three months.
"After the night strike by Iranian drones, Odessa and other cities and villages of the region are in darkness," Zelenskyy said.
"As of now, more than 1.5 million people in Odessa region are without electricity."
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the presidential administration, said only critical infrastructure including hospitals and maternity wards had access to electricity.
"The situation remains difficult, but is under control," Tymoshenko said.
