This footage shows the blinding explosions caused when two Russian rockets slammed into a building full of humanitarian supplies in besieged Mykolaiv.
Zenger News obtained the nighttime footage from Vitaliy Kim – the governor of Mykolaiv Oblast – on July 21.
Mr. Kim, 41, said: “And this is the moment of the strike.
“Yes, at 3 o’clock in the morning, the Russian occupiers hit one of our humanitarian headquarters with two rockets.
“Thousands of tonnes of products intended for children, the elderly and those who need help were completely burnt.”
The footage clearly shows the two rockets plummeting to the ground and causing massive explosions.
Mr. Kim became a popular figure across Ukraine after the invasion began due to his wit and mockery of the Russian Army.
His office in Mykolaiv was hit by a Russian missile in an airstrike on March 29 that killed at least 37 people.
The provincial capital remains in Ukrainian hands but lies close to the front line.
Zenger News contacted the Mykolaiv governor for further comment, as well as the Russian Ministry of Defense, but had not received a reply at the time of writing.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is calling a “special military operation”. Friday marks the 149th day of the invasion.
In its latest report on July 21, the Russian MoD put Ukrainian losses at “260 airplanes and 144 helicopters, 1,577 unmanned aerial vehicles, 356 air defense missile systems, 4,135 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 762 combat vehicles equipped with MRLS, 3,174 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 4,413 units of special military equipment”.
MI6 head Richard Moore said on July 21 that the Russian military was likely to start an operational pause in Ukraine in the coming weeks, giving Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s forces an opportunity to strike back.
But U.K. intelligence also said Russian forces appeared to be closing in on the Vuhlehirska coal-fueled thermal power station in Svitlodarsk, Donetsk Oblast, in Moscow’s push to seize critical infrastructure and take more Ukrainian territory.
Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov reported on July 21 that Russia had shelled one of the most densely populated areas of Ukraine’s second city, with the provincial prosecutor’s office reporting three dead and 23 wounded in the strikes.
CIA director William Burns said on July 20 that Washington estimated around 15,000 Russian military fatalities in Ukraine thus far, in addition to some 45,000 wounded, with corresponding Ukrainian figures also significant.
Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres will sign a deal on July 22 to resume the export of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, according to the office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Meanwhile, an EU proposal that member states cut gas use by 15 percent in preparation for potential supply cuts from Russia has met resistance from individual governments, casting doubt on whether the emergency plan will be approved.
