MELITOPOL, April 4. /TASS/. Ukrainian forces have intensified the shelling of Melitopol, driven by the need to reconnoiter the situation for an offensive toward Zaporozhye, Vladimir Rogov, chair of the We Stand With Russia movement, told TASS.
"Attacks on Melitopol have intensified as Ukrainian forces are testing the ground for an offensive," Rogov said. The Ukrainian military could launch a counterattack at any time, and it is the Zaporozhye front that will be the priority for them, he added.
On March 27, Rogov told TASS that the Ukrainian military had deployed up to 75,000 servicemen near Zaporozhye in the wake of an attempted offensive on March 23 that was thwarted by Russian forces, who destroyed roughly 400 enemy combatants. Earlier, he warned that the potential Ukrainian counteroffensive would be conducted "not only on the ground but also by water." According to the politician, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s recent visit to the Kiev-controlled part of the Zaporozhye Region "indirectly confirmed" that the Ukrainian military had been preparing for an offensive.
On Monday, the former head of the village of Akimovka, Maxim Zubarev, was injured in a car blast in Melitopol. The city’s administration said he was in serious condition. The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into the attempt on Zubarev’s life. According to investigators, an improvised explosive device was used in the attack.
In the past week, Melitopol was shelled several times. On March 27, a building near a college was damaged in a Ukrainian attack, injuring two people. Two days later, Ukrainian shells hit a locomotive depot, partially causing a power outage in the city. Later, on March 29, the local police in Melitopol had to evacuate residents from a number of buildings in what turned out to be a false bomb scare.
On Sunday, six civilians were injured as a locomotive depot and a high-rise residential building were shelled.