Ukraine shells recreation center in Melitopol, kills 2, wounds 2

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The Ukrainian armed forces shelled a recreational center in Melitopol, Zaporozhye, with preliminary data suggesting that the attack killed two people and injured two others, Vladimir Rogov, a senior official with the regional administration, said on Saturday.

Air defense systems were activated earlier during the day in the city. They were able to shoot down two Ukrainian missiles and could not intercept the rest, allowing them to hit their targets, according to Rogov. 

"A recreation center complex caught fire in Melitopol after several HIMARS strikes. According to preliminary reports, two people were killed and two injured. Firefighters are trying to extinguish the blaze and rescue people from the rubble," Rogov said on Telegram.

This comes less than a month after Ukrainian troops shelled the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (NPP) with massive artillery shelling, damaging strategic facilities, according to Renat Karchaa, an advisor to the head of Rosenergoatom, a subsidiary of Rosatom, a Russian nuclear energy company. 

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said that experts were nearing an acceptable agreement between Ukraine and Russia on the creation of a safety and security protection zone around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.

Ukrainian authorities have begun planning an offensive against the region, so provocations may occur in the near future, Rogov warned in October. He also revealed later that Polish mercenaries and members of the Ukrainian nationalist Kraken Regiment are fighting alongside Ukraine on the Zaporozhye front.

"[Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky's regime has begun an ideological and informational preparation for an offensive on the Zaporozhye region," he said.

"In addition to amassing troops to the front line, videos are now being widely filmed for the Western consumers with stories about what the Zaporozhye region is, how and why it should be 'liberated.' This is clearly being done in order to solicit even more weapons for criminal intentions," Rogov warned.

It is worth noting that the four unification treaties with the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics alongside the Kherson and the Zaporozhye Regions were officially signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin about a week earlier. 

The documents were unanimously endorsed by the upper house of the Russian parliament and the Federation Council after the State Duma ratified the agreements on Monday and were certified as lawful by the country’s Constitutional Court over the weekend.