On the night of May 17, the Russian military fired at Nikolayev, as a result, one person was injured, a shopping center and a car dealership were destroyed, said the head of the regional administration, Vitaly Kim. He also posted a photo of the destroyed infrastructure. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine specified that the Russian Federation hit the civilian infrastructure of Nikolaev with two "Caliber".
In the morning, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported on the "defeat of the ammunition depot", no evidence was provided. According to the Russian authorities, the warehouse was located at a shipyard. Also in the daily summary it is said that "the targets of the strike have been achieved, the object has been hit."
On the shots published by the head of the Nikolaev area partially destroyed buildings of a motor show and shopping center are visible. He also stated that a hit on an industrial infrastructure facility was recorded, which one was not specified.
This is not the first time that the RF Ministry of Defense has passed off strikes on infrastructure in Ukraine as strikes on "ammunition depots". In June 2022, the department stated that the Amstor shopping center in Kremenchuk was hit because there was an “ammunition depot” there, and the shopping center itself “did not function.” At the same time, the fire, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, started due to "the detonation of ammunition stored at the plant nearby." However, the mayor of the Ukrainian city claimed that the administrators did not close the shopping center, it functioned and there were about a thousand people there.