Europe 1 with AFP 10:43 a.m., July 12, 2022

After a Ukrainian strike in the occupied region of Kherson, on the night of Monday to Tuesday, the Russian authorities report seven dead and around sixty wounded.

Ukraine, for its part, claims to have carried out a strike on military targets, destroying an ammunition warehouse and killing 52 Russian soldiers.

Russian occupation authorities in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine said seven people were killed and around 60 injured in a Ukrainian strike overnight Monday-Tuesday.

"There are already seven dead and about 60 wounded" in this strike which hit the town of Nova Kakhovka, declared on Telegram the head of the military-civilian administration installed in this locality by the Russian forces, Vladimir Leontiev.

A deputy leader of the Kherson occupation administration, Ekaterina Goubareva, also reported seven dead and accused Ukrainian forces of carrying out the strike with US Himars multiple rocket launchers.

It was not immediately possible to independently verify these claims.

Ukraine for its part said it had carried out a strike on military targets in Nova Kakhovka, adding that 52 Russian servicemen had been killed and an ammunition warehouse destroyed.

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“The extent of the damage is enormous”

In a video broadcast by Russian media, we see a huge ball of fire and wreaths being thrown into the sky in the middle of the night, while powerful detonations sound and a thick column of white smoke rises.

On other images taken in the morning and released by the occupation authorities, we see several destroyed buildings.

“Dozens of houses were hit (…) We are pulling people out of the rubble,” said Vladimir Leontiev.

"It is a terrible tragedy (...) The number (of victims) will increase, because the extent of the damage is enormous," he added.

"It is clear that this is (a) deliberate, violent, cynical attack with high-precision missiles, there are no military targets here (…) Warehouses were hit, shops, a pharmacy, gas stations and even a church", he said again, denouncing an "act of terrorism".

Bordering the Crimean peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, the Kherson region is largely occupied by Russian forces engaged since last February in an offensive against Ukraine.

The Ukrainian army has been leading a counter-offensive on the Kherson front for several weeks, while the bulk of Russian troops are deployed in Donbass, in eastern Ukraine.

kyiv has regained ground and moved closer to Kherson, a large city of 290,000 inhabitants, but has so far failed to break through the Russian defenses deeply.