MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/. Powerful explosions were reported in several Ukrainian cities in the early hours of Wednesday, various Ukrainian media outlets reported.

According to the country’s TSN news agency, explosions were heard in the city of Kharkov. The agency gave no details or reaction from the authorities.

The Obshchestvennoye news service said blasts also rocked the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporozhye at around 2:00 a.m. Moscow time.

Earlier on Wednesday, a series of powerful blasts was heard in Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odessa between 1:05 a.m. and 1:07 a.m. Moscow time. Shortly after, eyewitnesses told TASS that loud explosions were also heard near the port of Chernomorsk not far from Odessa.

"Several loud bangs could be clearly heard near the port of Chernomorsk. They were so strong that we thought it would smash windows in our apartment," a local resident told TASS.

Another series of blasts shook Odessa about an hour later, Ukraine’s Zerkalo Nedeli newspaper said.

Prior to that, explosions were also reported in the Dnepropetrovsk Region and in the Kiev-controlled territories of the Zaporozhye Region.