Reuters
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NOS News•today, 14:00
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Ukraine claims it blew up a Russian weapons depot in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson last night. The Ukrainian army reports that 52 Russians were killed in the rocket attack in Nova Kachovka. Military vehicles are also said to have been destroyed.
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The Ukrainians carried out the attack with a US-supplied mobile missile system of the M142 Himars type, a pro-Russian official reported. That system will be equipped with missiles that have a range of up to about 80 kilometers.
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The official told Russian media that civilians and civilian infrastructure were hit. Seven people were said to have been killed and about 60 injured. According to him, there are still people under the rubble. Warehouses where saltpeter was stored would also have been hit, resulting in large explosions.
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Unverified footage shows a large fireball glowing against the night sky:
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The Ukrainian army is preparing a large-scale counter-offensive in the Russian-occupied southern region. Deputy Prime Minister Vereshchuk last week called on women and children to flee Kherson and Zaporizhzhya provinces. She told the national television channel that this way citizens can avoid becoming “human shields”.
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Ukrainian Defense Minister Reznikov told the British newspaper on Sunday The Times that Ukraine is mobilizing a force of one million people for the offensive. Equipped with western heavy weapons, the military must recapture the southern territory.
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‘Too slow arms deliveries’
“We have about 700,000 soldiers and if you add the National Guard, the police and the Border Guard, we are about a million men,” Reznikov told the newspaper.
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Ukraine wants to take back the occupied coastal areas that are vital to the country’s economy, Reznikov said. “We know that politicians see it as very urgent. The president has ordered the highest military chief to draw up plans.”
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Reznikov reiterated that there is too little pace in arms deliveries from abroad. “We need more, and fast, to save the lives of our soldiers. Every day we have to wait for howitzers, we could lose a hundred soldiers.”
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