Southern Ukraine city hit by 'strongest' Russian strikes

KYIV, UKRAINE - Authorities in Ukraine's southern city of Mykolaiv said Sunday that widespread Russian bombardments overnight had left at least one person dead, as Moscow continued to pummel the sprawling front line.

"Mykolaiv was subjected to mass shelling today. Probably the strongest so far," the city's mayor Oleksandr Senkevych wrote on Telegram.

"Powerful explosions were heard after one in the morning and around five in the morning." The governor of the region -- where Ukrainian forces are looking to launch a major counter-offensive -- said that according to preliminary information one person had been killed and two wounded in the strikes.

Attacks also pounded the northeastern regions of Kharkiv and Sumy, near the front line with the Russian forces.

"Today a whole succession of explosions took place... a few buildings are reportedly damaged," Igor Terekhov the mayor of Ukraine's second city Kharkiv said.

Sumy regional chief Dmytro Zhyvytsky said that some 50 strikes on Saturday evening had left one person dead and two wounded.

The governor of the Donetsk region, where Moscow is focusing the brunt of its attacks, said that three civilians were killed and eight wounded in shelling Saturday. - AFP