Ukraine struck a railway depot and knocked out power in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol deep behind the front lines on March 29 as Rafael Grossi, head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, visited the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant for a second major inspection.
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Several simultaneous explosions rang out "in all areas" of Melitopol, said the exiled Ukrainian mayor of the city, Ivan Fedorov.
"The power went out in the northern and western districts of the city, as well as in Semenivka, Tambovka, and some other surrounding villages," Fedorov said.
Russian media said the explosions were the result of shelling by Ukrainian forces. Citing Moscow-installed officials, TASS reported that a railway depot was damaged and power was knocked out to the city and nearby villages.
Kyiv has not commented on the report. Melitopol, which had a prewar population of around 150,000, is a railway logistics hub for Russian forces in southern Ukraine. The strategic city, located some 120 kilometers southeast of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, has been targeted by Ukrainian shelling in the past.
Grossi led an 18-member delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to get an overview of the safety situation at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which has been hit by shelling repeatedly since the start of the war.
"I think in general the situation is not improving. It is obvious that military activity is increasing in this whole region," Grossi told reporters. He also repeated calls for a safe zone around the plant.
"Every possible measure and precaution should be taken so that the plant is not attacked," he said, adding that any security arrangements would be reviewed with both sides.
Ukraine is demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from the plant, which they have occupied since March 2022.
Before his visit to the plant, Grossi expressed hope that Russia and Ukraine would agree on security principles for the plant, including a pledge not to attack it.
The Ukrainian military's General Staff reported earlier that the defenders of Bakhmut had repelled more waves of Russian assaults on the largely destroyed city, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Kyiv cannot afford to lose the battle for the city in the Donetsk region that has become the focal point of Russia's protracted offensive in the east.
"The enemy continued its assault on the city of Bakhmut," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in its daily report. "However, our defenders have been courageously holding on to the city, repelling numerous enemy attacks," it said.
Bakhmut, along with Avdiyivka, Mariynka, and Lyman, remain the main targets of Russia's relentless shelling, the Ukrainian military said, adding that a total of 57 enemy attacks were repelled over the past 24 hours in the area.
Russian troops also carried out 18 air strikes and three missile strikes, as well as 50 rocket salvoes along the whole front line over the previous day, the military said.
The information could not be independently verified.
Farther south, Russian forces kept shelling the Kherson region, the head of the regional military administration Oleksandr Prokudin said.
"Over the past day, the enemy has shelled the region 34 times -- three times the city of Kherson itself," Prokudin said on Telegram, adding that one person was wounded.
Residential buildings, a hospital, and a factory were among the Russian targets, Prokudin said.
In the eastern Kharkiv region, one man was killed and another was wounded by massive Russian shelling, local police reported.
Meanwhile, Zelenskiy reaffirmed that Ukraine must hold on to Bakhmut at all costs, warning that a win by Russia there would be used by President Vladimir Putin as a stepping stone in garnering international support for a peace agreement that would force Ukraine to accept painful compromises.
Putin would "sell this victory to the West, to his society, to China, to Iran," Zelenskiy told the Associated Press in an interview published on March 29.
"If he will feel some blood -- smell that we are weak -- he will push, push, push," Zelenskiy said.
Ukrainian military commanders have said their own counteroffensive is not far off but in the meantime they seek to maintain control of Bakhmut.
The Ukrainian military announced on March 28 that it has recently received long-promised Western equipment, including German Leopard 2 tanks.
On March 28, Zelenskiy said in his evening video address that the world must act with more urgency to put a stop to Russia's aggression.
He said he believed the "Russian aggression can end much faster" than some have said. It will end faster "if the world is faster, if the world is more decisive," Zelenskiy said.