Several videos posted on social media by the Russian military in Melitopol captured the results of a HIMARS missile attack on a hotel that Ukrainians said was being used as a base for invading forces.

According to information that appeared on social networks, the shelling from the HIMARS launchers, obtained by the Ukrainians from the United States, was aimed at a hotel and restaurant where Russian troops were stationed, and images shared by Russian soldiers show how some time after shots, rescue operations began. .

Carefully! Images with emotional impact. In one of the videos, several seriously wounded Russian soldiers can be seen.

Russian troops said they entered the town of Melitopol in the Zaporizhia region on February 26, the third day of an invasion launched by President Vladimir Putin.

More than 10 explosions have been reported in Melitopol since the weekend attack, with residents saying the hotel and restaurant on fire in the pictures are located in the eastern part of the city, RFE/RL reports.

Ivan Fedorov, the exiled Ukrainian mayor of the city, reported on his Telegram channel that the former hotel complex was used to house 200-300 Russian troops and that dozens of them were killed or wounded in the attack.

“The Russians were immediately taken to the hospital in Crimea, because there are not enough places in Melitopol. Some ambulances have been converted into morgues,” he said. However, his story could not be independently verified.

Heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine

The Armed Forces of Ukraine did not provide details of the shelling, noting only that rockets and artillery hit the barracks.

Instead, Yevhen Balitskyi, the Russian-appointed governor of the occupied territories of the Zaporizhia region, said that the air defense systems destroyed two missiles, and four more hit the targets.

Heavy fighting continued over the weekend in eastern Ukraine after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on Friday that the situation in that theater was difficult and that the Russians were advancing in some areas.

“The situation on the front line remains very difficult in the key areas of Donbas: Bakhmut, Soledar, Maryinka, Kreminna,” he said. The four cities are on the front line in Donetsk and Luhansk, where there has been very little movement over the past three months.

“There is not a single living place left on the ground in these areas that was not affected by shells and fire,” the Ukrainian president added.

Volodymyr Zelenskyi also noted that the city of Bakhmut, which Russian troops have been trying to capture for months, has been “turned into a ruin” as a result of repeated attacks by the invading forces.

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