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KYIV — Ukraine said that “local resistance” fighters had blown up the headquarters of Russian forces in the occupied city of Melitopol, killing at least three officers, as the Kremlin’s troops continued to press attacks in the east and south around the battered cities of Bakhmut and Avdiyivka and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that the winter ahead could be difficult..
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“The revenge action, which was carried out by representatives of the local resistance movement, took place on the premises of [the post office] seized by the Russians, located on Dmytro Dontsov Street,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s main intelligence department wrote on Telegram about the November 11 incident.
It added that the attack was carried out “during a meeting of officers” of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and National Guard.
The report could not immediately be independently verified.
Melitopol — a city with a prewar population of about 150,000 in the Zaporizhzhya region — was occupied by Russian troops soon after the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of February 2022.
In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned citizens to be prepared for a difficult winter as Russia steps up its attacks on crucial energy sites, as it did a year ago.
“We must be prepared for the possibility the enemy may increase the number of drone or missile strikes on our infrastructure,” Zelenskiy said.
“All our attention should be focused on defense, on response to terrorists, on everything Ukraine can do to make it easier for our people to get through this winter and to increase the capabilities of our troops,” he said.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces had intensified attacks in the east of the country as they attempt to regain ground near Bakhmut, the devastated city that was the scene of a monthslong battle before falling to the Russians in May.
General Oleksandr Syrskiy, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, said that “toward Bakhmut, the Russians have stepped up [attacks] and are trying to recapture previously lost positions.”
He added that “enemy attacks are being repelled,” without providing details.
Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said Russian forces had thwarted five Ukrainian attacks near Klishchiyivka, Kurdyumivka, and two villages south of Bakhmut over the past day.
Bakhmut has been an epicenter of fighting for months as an ambitious Ukrainian counteroffensive has raged on its northern and southern flanks, with Russian forces still in control of the city itself.
A Ukrainian ground-forces spokesman, Volodymyr Fityo, said in a television appearance that the Russians were “probing defenses” around Bakhmut in hopes of “trying to storm” areas under Ukrainian control but hadn’t achieved “strategic success.”
General Oleksandr Tarnavskiy, the Ukrainian commander near Avdiyivka, wrote on Telegram that Russian forces were stepping up air strikes there with the use of guided bombs.
Tarnavskiy added that Russian forces had conducted 30 air strikes and 712 artillery launches at Avdiyivka and nearby areas over the past day, along with carrying out some four dozen direct combat assaults against Ukrainian units.
He reported heavy Russian losses in men and materiel, but the report could not be confirmed and there were no details on Ukrainian losses.
Early on November 12, the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Produkin, said an early morning Russian air attack had struck the Honchar Regional Library in Kherson, a center of scientific learning.
“One of the hits was on the Honchar regional library. The building is seriously damaged,” he said.
Prokudin said there were no injuries from the blast or the ensuing fire.
Russian officials have denied targeting civilians despite near-constant bombardment and drone attacks on infrastructure and population centers in the 20-month full-scale war.
With reporting by AP
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