A Russian missile struck the regional governor’s building in the strategically important city of Mykolaiv early yesterday, possibly signalling the start of Moscow’s push towards Odesa, whose capture would shut Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea.
At least 12 people were killed and 33 injured, but the intended target escaped unhurt. Vitaliy Kim, the charismatic governor who organised the city’s defences, was late for work because he had overslept.
“They destroyed half of the building, hit my office,” Kim said.
It was in that office that Kim had been recording video reports mocking Russian attempts to take his city.
In the past weeks the city’s defenders have repelled wave after wave of assaults by ground troops, warplanes, helicopters, missiles and rockets. The missiles have showered death on hundreds of civilians and soldiers and destroyed residential buildings as well as schools and hospitals.
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After yesterday’s strike Ukrainian military sources in the town of Voznesensk, north of Mykolaiv, said another Russian military column was heading towards the city.
The Russians want to take Mykolaiv because it blocks the route to Odesa, Ukraine’s biggest port and the prize Moscow most desperately seeks on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast.
By early evening, however, Colonel Oleksandr Lobos of the Ukrainian army said that the Russian column had been stopped in its tracks. “In any case it wasn’t like the tanks and armoured personnel carriers they had at the start of the war,” he added. “These are older, worn-out vehicles, and their crews are confused, frightened and disoriented. Many of them didn’t know they were being sent to Ukraine or a war or why they were fighting.
“We haven’t destroyed all of them but very many of their vehicles have been destroyed and they are not advancing any more and they will not get to Mykolaiv.”
Lieutenant Colonel Serhiy Moskalenko is the commander of the 61st Infantry Brigade, stationed in Voznesensk. His task is to guard a bridge across the river that bisects the town, the Pivdeniy Buh, and the Yuzhnoukrainsk nuclear power plant to the north.
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The Russians have captured two other Ukrainian power plants: Chernobyl and Zaporizhye. They seem eager to add Yuzhnoukrainsk to their portfolio.
The core of Moskalenko’s detachment is regular army. He said his troops had been preparing for war with Russia for a long time.
“I personally believed for years that this conflict was inevitable,” he said. “Putin wanted to eliminate us from the map. So we were always going to have to fight better than the Russians for our country to survive.”
Moskalenko said he had 800 fully trained troops stationed near Odesa when the war erupted on February 24. “Our purpose was to quickly integrate into our forces people who would be quickly called up or volunteer in the event of war,” he said. “We knew there were many people ready to fight.
“When it did happen, we had 2,800 people volunteering for service. Everyone is enthusiastic. They haven’t needed to be prodded by conscription. Many of them are veterans, so they already know a lot and can teach the others.
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“Every day some of them come to me and ask when they’re actually going to be allowed to go into battle.”
Moskalenko said that the next- generation lightweight anti-tank weapons (NLAWs) supplied by Britain had done “great work today” and been pivotal in stemming the latest Russian onslaught.
He said that he and his troops, who had been trained by British instructors to use the weapons, were grateful to Britain: “We have the determination and spirit to fight, but you [the British] gave us the means to do that, and we won’t forget that.”
Viktor Drobot, commander of a small unit of volunteer forces in Mykolaiv, said the deadly first strike was followed up with more missiles and artillery on Mykolaiv throughout the day. “They should have learnt by now that they don’t scare us,” he said. “We are ready for them.”
