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Claims have been made on social media that the fire has hit Skadovsk, a Black Sea port city in Ukraine’s Kherson region. A Twitter user shared images that appeared to show smoke and helicopters in the sky nearby. MilitaryLand.net, a blog focused on the war, tweeted from its account: “Locals are reporting several explosions near occupied Skadovsk, Kherson oblast.”
Twitter account War Monitor wrote: “Ukrainian troops attack the occupied Skadovsk Kherson region.”
Fellow Twitter user Special Kherson Cat said: “Local residents are reporting a fire near Skadovsk, Kherson region. It is not certain whether it was the result of shelling or simply a fire caused by the summer heat. But Russian helicopters show a clear interest in.”
Heuvelrug intelligence tweeted: “Active fighting reported in Skadovsk, Kherson Oblast. Skadovsk has been occupied by Russian forces since February/March and is located 62 km south of Kherson.”
Another Twitter user, Dariusz Zawadzki, said: “There are reports of explosions in Skadovsk, Kherson region. [Russian] helicopters are hoisted in the air.”
express.co.uk has not been able to independently verify any of the claims or reports.
Reports of smoke reportedly around Skadovsk come after British military intelligence said on Saturday that Russia’s war in Ukraine is about to enter a new phase.
Defense Intelligence said most of the fighting is shifting to a nearly 217-mile front stretching southwest from near Zaporizhia to Kherson, parallel to the Dnieper River.
It added that Russian forces are almost certainly gathering in southern Ukraine, either in anticipation of a counteroffensive or in preparation for a possible attack.
Long convoys of Russian military trucks, tanks, towed artillery and other weapons continue to move southwest from Ukraine’s Donbas region.
The Defense Intelligence Agency update added tactical battalion groups (BTG), consisting of 800 to 1,000 troops, which are deployed in Crimea and will almost certainly be used to support Russian forces in the Kherson region.
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Ukraine formally closed the seaport of Skadovsk in May, along with three more of its seaports in Black and Azov, after they were taken by Russian forces.
The Azov seaports of Mariupol, Berdiansk and Skadovsk as well as the Black Sea port of Kherson were closed “until control was restored,” Ukraine’s Ministry of Agriculture said at the time.
All Ukrainian seaports had ceased operations as a result of the Russian invasion in late February, although Odessa has since seen grain shipments following a Russia-Ukraine deal brokered by Turkey.
The Defense Intelligence Service’s update says Ukrainian armed forces are targeting bridges, ammunition depots and rail links in southern regions, including the strategically important railway linking Kherson to Russian-occupied Crimea.
The region is part of a swath of Ukraine that Russia has occupied and extends north and east from the annexed Crimean peninsula along the northern coast of the Sea of Azov to the Russian border.
Ukraine has said it will launch a counter-offensive in the Kherson region and has launched attacks on Russian supply lines and ammunition depots in the area. A senior official in the Russian-backed government was killed in June in a bomb attack his colleagues blamed on Kiev.
On Friday, it emerged that the southern front city of Mykolaiv would impose a curfew from late in the day until early Monday morning as authorities try to catch people collaborating with Russia.
Mykolaiv, which was shelled during the Russian invasion that began on February 24, is close to the Russian-occupied parts of Kherson, where Ukraine is planning a counter-offensive.
