Russia-Ukraine war enters 6th month, 'mass shelling' in Mykolaiv

As the Russia-Ukraine war nears its sixth month, Mykolaiv city in Ukraine was hit with heavy shelling, media reports said.

According to officials, the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv came under intense shelling in the early morning hours on Sunday. Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said cluster munitions were blowing out windows and destroying balconies.

"Mykolaiv was under mass shelling today. Probably the strongest one of all time," he said in a statement, reported CNN.

A CNN team on the ground heard the explosions caused by the strikes and saw fires that broke out in the shelling.

Moreover, US-based media CNN interviewed local residents who said that it was the heaviest shelling till date ever in the city since the war started in Eastern Europe.

According to Vitalii Kim, head of Mykolaiv regional military administration, at least one person was killed and two injured in the attack.

Meanwhile, in a speech commemorating Russia's Navy Day in Saint Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not make any mention of Russia's war in Ukraine and said that his country's "current situation is demanding very decisive actions."

"We will provide protection firmly and by all means. The key here is the capabilities of the Navy, which is able to respond with lightning speed to anyone who decides to encroach on our sovereignty and freedom," Putin said.

He added that delivery of the country's Zircon hypersonic cruise missile systems would begin in the coming months. Russia said in May that it successfully tested the Zircon missile over a distance of 1,000 kilometres (621 miles).

Separately, at least three people were killed and eight injured in fighting in eastern Ukraine, according to the Donetsk military-civilian administration, which said villages in the region were targeted by artillery, Russian Grad missiles and Uragan rockets.

"11 private residential buildings and a high-rise building, a police station, a market, a canteen were damaged, and three fields were burned," the administration said.

The Ukraine General Staff said Russian forces were attacking the front lines in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ukrainian shelling caused blackouts in two coal mines in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) on Sunday, leaving at least 70 miners trapped underground, the DPR coal ministry said.

"As a result of yet another shelling of Donetsk by Ukrainian militants ... two coal facilities were left without electricity. The Skochinsky mine and the Abakumov mine of the Donetsk Coal Energy Company were left without electricity," the Ministry said on Telegram.

At the time of the blackouts, there were 72 miners working underground at Skochinsky and five at Abakumov, according to preliminary estimates. A rescue operation will be launched for them, the DPR Ministry said.