Seven people are missing and three injured after the strikes, according to the head of the occupied Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, who said that a “rescue operation involving patrol boats and aircraft” was under way. The three offshore platforms, the Boyko Towers, were previously seized from Moscow by Ukraine in 2014. Kyiv is believed to be used for military reconnaissance and to help control much of the Black Sea. There was no immediate official confirmation from Ukraine of the attack, although a Ukrainian lawmaker from the Odessa region, Oleksiy Goncharenko, said early in the morning that rockets had been fired at the platforms. An attack on the platforms would represent a further attempt by Ukraine to reach the Black Sea, which comes three days after it said it destroyed a Russian tug near Snake Island using Western Harpoon missiles. It emerged last month that Denmark would supply a Harpoon offshore defense system to Ukraine with 77-mile (124-kilometer) rockets. It operates in parallel with Ukraine’s Neptune missiles, which sank the Russian warship Moskva in April. Elsewhere on the ground, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Russia was mobilizing to launch a final offensive in the Donbass Sievierodonetsk town and neighboring Lysychansk by the end of the week. Malyar told Ukrainian television that “decisive fighting in the Sievierodonetsk region” was continuing and that the Russians were hoping to “reach the Luhansk region by June 26” – implying the occupation of both cities. Fighting has been raging in Sivierodonetsk for weeks, with Russia trying to take control of the city through heavy artillery bombardment, while Ukraine has been embroiled in a desperate defense that could have claimed hundreds of lives. Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region, said Ukrainian forces were still in position. “They control most of the city, but not the whole city,” he said, adding that fighting had made it impossible to evacuate the city. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has predicted that Russia will intensify its attacks this week, warning European partners that they too should be prepared for escalating hostilities as Kyiv awaits a decision on its bid to join. in the EU. “A historic week is beginning,” he said in a video overnight speech as EU leaders considered whether to follow the European Commission’s recommendation to grant Kyiv candidate status in the bloc. Zelensky said: “Obviously, we should expect more hostile activity from Russia. Intentionally – ostentatiously. This week exactly. And not only against Ukraine, but also against other European countries. we are getting ready. We are ready. We warn the partners “. Ukrainian missile and artillery raids also continued against Donetsk. The largest Russian-controlled city in Donbas is facing some of the heaviest bombings since the start of the conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014. Footage posted on local social media channels also showed damaged infrastructure in the city. Aleksey Kulemzin, the Russian-appointed mayor of Donetsk, urged residents in the area on Monday not to leave their homes and seek refuge. “Donetsk is under bombardment again,” he said. Igor Girkin, a former FSB officer who led a separatist militia in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine in 2014, wrote on his Telegram page that the bombing also damaged the headquarters of the 1st Army Corps, the military force . Democracy. Ukrainian raids over the weekend hit military weapons installations, according to videos of burned warehouses posted online by Russian state media. “Ukraine seems to be hitting ammunition targets and logistics facilities in Donbass to undermine Russia’s ability to fight in the east,” said Rob Lee, a military analyst. Subscribe to the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7 p.m. BST Haidai said wheat farmers in nearby Russian-occupied territories were paid less than half what they received before the war and in Russian rubles. The Russian occupation authorities offered farmers 8,000 rubles (£ 118) a tonne of grain for the next sowing season, he said. “In fact, producers will be paid only 30% of the cost of grain. Experts understand that Haidai has been added. Prior to the war, Ukraine was the world’s fifth-largest exporter of grain, but Russia’s blockade of the Black Sea since the start of the invasion prevented the country from exporting much of its grain, pushing world prices. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has called Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain a “real war crime”, adding: “It’s unthinkable. “One can not imagine that millions of tons of wheat remain stranded in Ukraine, while in the rest of the world people are suffering from hunger.”
