A bomb in a trash can wounded a Russian official in an occupied Ukrainian city

Smoke rises from a fuel tank following an alleged drone attack in Sevastopol, Crimea Photo: Reuters

An explosive device hidden in a trash can wounded a Russian official in occupied Melitopol, which was the latest in a series of assassination attempts behind enemy lines.

The Moscow-appointed head of the Zaporozhye region, Vladimir Rogov, said that an unknown attacker planted a bomb in a trash can near an apartment building in Melitopol. The bomb was reportedly set off when an unnamed official left the house.

A man identified as the deputy minister of construction and housing and communal services of Zaporozhye was taken to hospital with serious injuries, Rogov said.< /p>

This came after the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet said his defense was being strengthened amid a flurry of Ukrainian drone strikes at its base, the Crimean port of Sevastopol.

Vice Admiral Viktor Sokolov told the military newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda on Friday: moorings of ships.

Sevastopol has been repeatedly attacked by drones since the start of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukraine has been careful not to take direct responsibility for attacks on the Crimean peninsula, which Russia unilaterally annexed after its capture in 2014 .

In an interview, Sokolov said that the Black Sea Fleet, whose flagship, the Moskva cruiser, was sunk by Ukraine in April 2022, will receive four new ships in 2023.

Vladimir Rogov, the Moscow-appointed head of the Zaporozhye region, said an unknown assailant planted a bomb in a trash can near an apartment building. /p>

Many were taken to Berdyansk, an occupied Ukrainian port city.

Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-appointed acting governor of the region Moscow has claimed as its own, said what he called the temporary relocation of people, especially families with children, to safer areas was due to increased Ukrainian shelling of 18 communities near the front lines.

Berdyansk has been under Russian control since February 27, 2022, three days after Moscow launched its so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine, a campaign that Kiev and the West have likened to a brutal colonial war of conquest.

The evacuees told Reuters that they decided to evacuate themselves for security reasons.

A firefighter speaks on his walkie-talkie as smoke and flames rise from a burning fuel tank in Sevastopol, Crimea. Photo: AP. became more dangerous, and said she was aware that fighting between the two sides around Ukraine's planned counter-offensive could rob her of her hopes of resuming normal life.

Meanwhile, a Russian military helicopter crashed in Moscow-annexed Crimea during the ministry defense announced that both pilots died in the exercise on Friday.

The preliminary conclusion was that it was due to a mechanical failure, the statement said.

“Today, during a scheduled A Mi-28 helicopter crashed on a training flight in the Dzhankoy region of Crimea,” the message says, noting that the helicopter had no ammunition and no damage on the ground.

“Two pilots were killed,” the report says. .

The Mi-28 is a multipurpose military helicopter capable of delivering devastating strikes.