Volodymyr Zelenskiy warns of possible ‘malicious’ Russian attacks ahead of Ukraine Independence Day | Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the next week will be over as the Ukrainian people prepare to celebrate Independence Day after a new blast hit Crimea and a missile injured 12 civilians near a nuclear power plant. warned to be vigilant.

In his nightly video address Saturday, Zelensky said Ukrainians must not allow Moscow to “spread despondency and fear” among them as they mark the 31st anniversary of independence from Soviet rule.

“We have to recognize that Russia could try to do something particularly ugly this week.” Ukraine I started.

Tensions are also high in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, where a curfew will be extended for the rest of the day on Wednesday, Olev Sinehab regional governor said on Saturday. The northeastern city is regularly hit by Russian artillery fire, and although there is usually a 10pm to 6am curfew, Independence Day required special precautions.

Also on Saturday, Russian and Ukrainian officials said a Russian missile hit a residential area in a southern Ukraine town not far from a nuclear power plant, injuring 12 civilians.

The attack on the Pivdennoukleinsk nuclear power plant and new shelling near the Zaporizhia base, Europe’s largest installation, have raised new fears of a wartime nuclear accident, Ukrainian officials said.

Zelensky obliquely mentioned in his speech Recent Series of Explosions in Crimeaa territory of Ukraine seized and annexed by Russia during the 2014 invasion.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but analysts say it was made possible, at least in part, by new equipment used by the Ukrainian military.

“This year I can literally feel Crimea floating in the air. I feel that the occupation there is temporary and that Ukraine is returning,” Zelensky said. .

In the latest attack in Crimea, the Russian-appointed governor (unrecognized by Ukrainian or Western governments) said a drone hit a building Near the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Saturday morning.

video share on twitter It appeared to show a Russian air defense system attempting to destroy a UAV and a column of dark smoke rising from the city.

Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvodjayev told Telegram that a drone hit the roof of the headquarters on Saturday and there were no casualties, the Russian news agency reports. Tas.

“I [Black Sea] Current Fleet Command. A drone hit the roof here 25 minutes ago. Unfortunately it didn’t go down…no casualties,” he wrote.

Later on Saturday, Crimea’s governor Sergey Aksyonov refuted earlier statements by saying in a Telegram that local air defenses had shot down a drone over the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol.

“On Saturday morning, the air defense system successfully hit all targets over Crimea.

Authorities in Sevastopol reported Saturday night that the city’s air defense system was active again in the evening.

Ukrainian media reported explosions in nearby towns, including the resort towns of Yevpatoria, Olenivka and Zaoghornoe.

After a strike near a power plant in southern Ukraine, Mykolaiv Region Governor Vitaly Kim said in Telegram that four children were among the injured.

A private house and a five-story apartment building were damaged in Voznesensk, 30 km from Ukraine’s second largest factory.

The Mykolaiv District Public Prosecutor’s Office updated previous tolls and said 12 civilians were injured.

State-run Energoatom, which manages all four of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, described the attack on Voznesensk as “another act of Russian nuclear terrorism.”

“This missile may have been aimed at the Pivdennu Krainsk nuclear power plant, which Russian forces attempted to seize in early March,” Energoatom said in a statement.

Russia did not immediately react to this accusation. Reuters could not confirm the situation in Voznesensk. There were no reports of damage to the South Ukraine plant.

Meanwhile, the Albanian Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that three people with Russian and Ukrainian passports had been arrested for trying to break into a military base and weapons factory in central Albania.

In a statement on Saturday, the ministry said two soldiers were injured trying to stop them.

“Three citizens with Russian and Ukrainian passports tried to enter the factory,” the ministry said in a statement sent to the media.

Albanian Prime Minister Eddi Rama said the three were “suspected of espionage”.