Moscow announced on Tuesday its readiness to test an intercontinental ballistic missile, which it described as the "most powerful long-range nuclear missile in the world", while Kyiv revealed a "special operation" carried out by the Ukrainian military intelligence in the south of the country.
Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian Space Corporation "Roskosmos", was quoted by the Russian RIA Novosti news agency as saying that the intercontinental ballistic missile "Sarmat" (nicknamed "Satan") is being prepared for new tests.
"The most powerful long-range nuclear missile in the world is being prepared for new tests and for mass production," Rogozin added.
Last June, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the Sarmat missile would enter service in the Russian armed forces at the end of this year.
The head of the "Ross Cosmos" Corporation has also previously stated that the corporation has started the production of "Sarmat" intercontinental ballistic missiles, and they will begin to be put into service by the end of this year.
It is noteworthy that the first launch of the Sarmat missile took place at the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region on April 20.
special operation
Meanwhile, Kyiv announced the "liberation" of 5 Ukrainians who were detained by Russian forces in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine during a "special operation" carried out by its military intelligence.
A military intelligence statement clarified that the operation was carried out by its forces, indicating that the five people are a soldier, a former policeman, and 3 civilians.
For several weeks, the Ukrainian army has been leading what it called a counter-offensive in Kherson, which the Russian army had seized from the early days of the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a previous meeting with members of the Ukrainian Military Intelligence (Reuters)
bombing in Kherson
In this context, Ukraine also announced that it had bombed at night the positions of the Russian forces in Kherson, adjacent to the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, while Moscow accused it of targeting homes.
Ukrainian military officials said the strike killed 52 Russian soldiers and destroyed an ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka, about 70 km from Kherson, a city of 290,000 people.
On the other hand, Vladimir Leontiev, head of the Civil Military Administration - established by Russian forces in this region - denounced via Telegram what he called a "terrorist act" and "a terrible tragedy", stressing "there is no military target" in the bombing area.
ammunition depot
In another development in Kherson, Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Aristovich said that his country's forces targeted an ammunition depot in the Nova Kakhovka region, noting that it contained more than 40 fuel trucks near stored ammunition.
On the other hand, the administration of Russia in the province announced that Kyiv forces bombed fertilizer warehouses in Nova Kakhovka with American "HIMARS" missiles, and the Russian TASS news agency said that at least 6 people were killed and more than 40 were wounded in the bombing.
The agency quoted the head of the Civil Military Administration, Vladimir Leontiev, as saying that the bombing destroyed a hospital, residential buildings and a school.
In Mykolaiv, also in the south, Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that a series of explosions took place at dawn on Tuesday, noting that mutual shelling between Ukrainian and Russian forces continued throughout the night on the outskirts of the city.
In the Odessa region in southern Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the destruction of the American "Harpoon" anti-ship missile systems, and Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov announced that the Ukrainian forces had sustained heavy losses in equipment.
Developments in the East
In the Ukrainian east, the last hours witnessed field developments centered in the Donbass region. Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that 8 towns on the northwestern axis of the city of Sloviansk were subjected to violent Russian air and artillery bombardment, while the Ukrainian General Staff confirmed that attempts to advance Russian towards several towns in the same axis were repelled.
The Ukrainian General Staff stated that the Russian forces are carrying out systematic bombing along the front line in the axis of the city of Bakhmut with the aim of improving its tactical situation.
In Lysichansk, the governor of Ukraine's Lugansk province said that there was a relative decline in attempts to advance Russian, despite the continued heavy Russian bombardment of towns and villages west of the city.