Russia hits Ukraine targets in 'mass revenge strike'

CRIMEA, July 18 (Reuters): Russia's Defence Ministry said on Tuesday it had hit military targets in two Ukrainian port cities overnight in what it called "a mass revenge strike," a day after an attack on the Crimean bridge which it blamed on Kyiv.
The ministry said it had struck Odesa, where the Ukrainian navy has a facility, and Mykolaiv on Ukraine's Black Sea coast.
"The armed forces of the Russian Federation carried out a mass retaliatory strike overnight using precision sea-based weapons against facilities where terrorist acts against the Russian Federation were being prepared using uncrewed boats," the ministry said in a statement.
It said it had struck a ship repair plant near Odesa where such boats were being built.
"In addition, storage facilities holding around 70,000 tons of fuel used to supply the Ukrainian military's equipment were destroyed" near the cities of Mykolaiv and Odesa, it said.
It said all the targets had been struck and destroyed, citing fires and detonations as evidence. Reuters could not independently confirm the account.