Vladimir Putin has suffered another blow after explosions were reported at a Russian ammunition dump near Mariupol with footage emerging on social media showing a huge blast
Approximately one-third of the facility in the village of Sjedove was damaged on the night of November 5, according to Ukrainian media reports.
Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to Mariupol’s mayor is quoted in the KyivPost as declaring that Russian troops had turned the entire village into a storage place for numerous military vehicles.
Sjedove is located on the Azov Sea’s coast, 55 kilometres east of Mariupol and 18 km from the Russian border.
Following a protracted fight with Ukrainian forces entrenched at Azovstal, a local steel mill, Russian forces successfully took control of Mariupol in May 2022.
The street-to-street fighting caused substantial damage to the city.
Despite this, Ukrainian partisans remain active within the city, carrying out sabotage against Russian logistics and supplies.
The explosion comes as the Russia-imposed governor of the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine has boasted that the Ukrainian army’s months-long offensive has run out of steam.
Yevgeny Balitsky has told a Russian news agency: “The enemy has been stopped and their counteroffensive, which has been so hyped, has been completely halted.”
Ukraine managed to capture a handful of villages during the much-hyped offensive and the small gains came at a heavy cost in manpower and equipment.
Kyiv has insisted that offensive operations are still underway with the aim of “exhausting the enemy all along the frontline”.
