Ukrainian strikes on Alyoshki aimed at blaming Russia for crisis, pro-Russian official says

Ukrainian forces have struck the town of Alyoshki in a pattern intended to attribute a humanitarian crisis there to Russia, according to Andrey Marochko, a military official cited by Russian state news agency TASS.

Marochko said Alyoshki has been under regular shelling by Ukrainian forces for an extended period, despite the absence of Russian troops in the town and the presence of only civilians there.

Competing narratives over a contested area

Alyoshki, located in the Kherson region, lies in territory where Russian and Ukrainian accounts of military activity have frequently diverged since the start of the full-scale invasion. Each side has at various points accused the other of shelling civilian areas and shaping the narrative around humanitarian conditions on the ground.

The TASS report did not include independent verification of Marochko's claims, and Ukrainian officials were not reported as having responded to the specific allegation.