Two dead in a strike in southern Ukraine. “Today at around 5:30 a.m. [4h30 en France], Ukrainian armed forces fired a missile at the Play Hotel by Ribas” in Kherson, the Russian occupation regional administration said in a statement, a city under Russian occupation in southern Ukraine. Claims could not immediately be independently verified.
“According to preliminary data, two people died in this terrorist act,” she added. Rescuers are still digging through the rubble looking for victims.”
An official of the Russian regional administration, Kirill Stremoussov, claimed that a former Ukrainian deputy, Oleksiy Jouravko, a pro-Russian sympathizer, was among those killed.
Russian media housed in the building
According to pro-Russian authorities, this hotel also housed journalists from Russian media at the time of the strike. The Russian state channel RT published images showing, according to it, one of its cameramen being extricated from a pile of rubble.
The announcement of this strike comes as the pro-Russian authorities of four areas controlled by Moscow in Ukraine, including in the Kherson region, have been organizing “referendums” since Friday to endorse an annexation of these territories by Russia.
These polls, described as “simulacra” by kyiv and its Western allies, must take place until Tuesday.
The city of Kherson fell under the control of Russian forces at the start of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine in late February.
It is located in an area where kyiv forces have been leading a large-scale counter-offensive for several weeks.