‘Sweeping operations’ in Azovstal – New Russian missile attack on Odessa

LAST UPDATE: 15.32

Three Dagger rockets fired by a Tu-22 bomber struck Odessa today during European Council President Charles Michel’s visit to the southern Ukrainian city, Ukrinform reported, citing reports from the local municipal authority.

“Three Dagger rockets were fired from a strategic Tu-22 bomber. Tourist infrastructure was damaged. Five buildings were destroyed. The fire was extinguished, two people were taken to hospital,” the Odessa city council told the Telegram.

It is recalled that as it became known earlier by a European official, Charles Michel had been forced to enter a shelter due to a rocket attack during his surprise visit to Odessa.

“The Kremlin wants to suppress your spirit of freedom and democracy. I am absolutely convinced that it will never succeed,” the European Council president said in a video posted on Twitter, hours after the celebrations in Moscow and the annual military parade. in Red Square for the victory of the Soviet army against Nazi Germany in World War II.

Russia is conducting “sweeping operations” in Azovstal

Earlier in the day, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry announced that Russian forces, with the help of armor and artillery, were conducting “sweeping operations” at the Azofstal steel plant in Mariupol, where the last defenders of Mariupol have been fortified.

Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanik did not provide further details but said, without elaborating, that there could be future attacks by Russian bombers.

Russia has in the past denied allegations by Ukrainian officials that it tried to storm the plant in the Sea of ​​Azov, where civilians have taken refuge.

The Ukrainian military also claimed, according to CNN, that Russia was holding back some of its forces within its borders to prevent a Ukrainian counterattack east of Kharkov.

In its latest operational update, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine states that “in order to prevent the advance of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the enemy has gathered up to nineteen regular battalion groups in the Belgorod region of Russia.”

The Russians are holding units as Ukrainian units approach the Russian border, analysts say.

Inside Ukraine, the General Staff says the most intense activity is in the Donetsk region, where Russian forces are trying to advance on the city of Lyman, an important transport hub.

The General Staff said it expected the Russians to continue attacking the village of Sulyhivka as they tried to move out of the area. Izium. In the last month, the Russians have made moderate progress in the region.

The Ukrainian military also said Monday that four high-precision missiles fired from Crimea hit its territory. Odessa in southern Ukraine, but without giving further details.

Meanwhile, Russian forces bombed a school in a village in eastern Ukraine over the weekend, killing about 60 people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said as Russia prepared to mark the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory in Germany on Monday. ‘ World War.

“As a result of the Russian strike in Bilokhorivka in the Luhansk region, about 60 civilians were killed, who were just hiding in the school to protect themselves from the fire,” Zelensky said.

Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk regional military administration, said the school building, which was used by about 90 people as a shelter, had been destroyed.

There was no comment from Moscow on the news.

Mariupol fighters appeal to the international community

In its southern port Mariupolwho has suffered the most devastating battles of the war, the deputy commander of the Azov Battalion who has taken refuge in Azofstal appealed to the international community to help evacuate the wounded soldiers.

“We will continue to fight as long as we are alive to repel the Russian occupiers,” Sviatoslav Palamar told an online news conference.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government has said that “all women, children and the elderly” have been evacuated from Azovstal to Mariupol. Zelensky said more than 300 civilians had been rescued.

The separatists said a total of 408 people had been evacuated from Mariupol in the past 24 hours, including 65 children.

In the city controlled by Ukraine Zaporizhiaabout 230 km northwest of Mariupol, dozens of people who have fled the city and nearby areas are in a parking lot that had been created for the evacuees.

“There are still a lot of people in Mariupol who want to leave but can’t,” Viktoria Andreyeva, a 46-year-old history teacher, told Reuters. her family in mid-April.

In the areas Luhansk and DonetskRussian attacks were repulsed, with tanks and armored vehicles destroyed, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Monday.

Viktor Andrusiv, an adviser to the Interior Minister, said that Ukraine expects the delivery of more sophisticated weapons and expects further attacks from Russia on Monday.

“We are preparing for rocket attacks today. Please, take very seriously the air alarms today,” he said.

Russia says it has enough missiles and ammunition

Russia has enough high-precision missiles and ammunition to carry out all the tasks assigned to the country’s armed forces, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said on Monday, according to Interfax news agency.

A senior Pentagon official said in March that Russia, which sent thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24 in a so-called special military operation, had run out of precision-guided munitions.

Russia says it has destroyed an American-made radar station in Ukraine

Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Monday that Russian forces had destroyed a US-made missile defense radar station near the eastern Ukrainian city of Zolote, according to Reuters.

Negotiations

The head of the Russian negotiating team, Vladimir Medinsky, said on Monday that peace talks with Ukraine had not stopped and were being conducted remotely, according to the interfax news agency.

Moscow has accused Kyiv of delaying talks and using reports of atrocities committed by Russian troops in Ukraine to undermine negotiations. Russia, for its part, denies targeting civilians in what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Asked when private talks with Ukrainian negotiators could take place, Medinsky said: “We need to have more details to meet in person.”

Ukraine and Russia have not held separate peace talks since March 29, although they have held teleconferences.

The G7 has pledged further sanctions

The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) pledged on Sunday to deepen Russia’s economic isolation and to “strengthen” the campaign against the Kremlin-linked elites.

The G7 has said it is committed to phasing out or banning Russian oil and has denounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“His actions shame Russia and the historic sacrifices of its people,” the G7 said in a statement, referring to the role of the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany 77 years ago.

Putin has repeatedly likened the war in Ukraine – which he portrays as a battle against dangerous “Nazi-inspired” nationalists in Ukraine – to the challenge the Soviet Union faced when Adolf Hitler invaded in 1941.

Ukraine and its allies have denied the allegations in a statement issued Friday stating “Similar, baseless allegations concerning Russia’s nuclear program have been made more than once.

In a videotaped speech, shot in front of damaged Ukrainian apartment buildings by Russian missile strikes, Zelensky said evil had returned, but his country would prevail.

Welcoming the G7 reaction, Zelensky said in his nightly video speech: “The main thing I felt today was the even greater willingness of the people to help us. It is clear to the whole free world that Ukraine is on the good side. “In this war. And Russia will lose, because evil always loses.”