ZAPORIZHYA, Ukraine –
Russian forces fired cruise missiles at the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa on Saturday and bombed the besieged steel plant in Mariupol, hoping to complete the takeover of the port in time to celebrate Victory Day. Authorities say the last women, children and elderly people have been evacuated from the factory, but Ukrainian fighters remain trapped.
In a sign of the unexpectedly effective defense that sustained the fighting in Week 11, the Ukrainian military compared Russian positions on a Black Sea island that was captured in the early days of the war and became a symbol of resistance.
Western military analysts also said the Ukrainian counter-offensive was advancing around the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, although it remained the main target of Russian shelling.
Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II has been a punitive war of attrition that has killed thousands, forced millions to flee their homes and destroyed large parts of some cities. Ukrainian leaders have warned that the attacks will only get worse on the eve of Monday’s Russian holiday, which marks the defeat of Nazi Germany 77 years ago, and President Vladimir Zelensky has called on people to heed warnings of air strikes.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Saturday that Zelensky and his people “embody the spirit of those who prevailed during World War II.” He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to “distort history in order to justify his unprovoked and brutal war against Ukraine”.
“As the war rages in Europe again, we must increase our determination to oppose those who are now seeking to manipulate historical memory to develop their own ambitions,” Blinken said in a statement, while the United States and the United Kingdom noted the victory of the Allies in Europe.
The most intense fighting in recent days has been in eastern Ukraine, where the two sides have been embroiled in a fierce battle to seize or rebuild territory. Moscow’s offensive there has focused on Donbass, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting since 2014.
The governor of the Luhansk region, one of the two that make up Donbass, said a Russian coup had destroyed a school in the village of Bilogorovka, where 90 people were seeking safety in the basement. Governor Sergei Haidai, who posted photos of the burning wreckage in the Telegram, said 30 people had been rescued. Emergency services later said two bodies had been found and could still be buried under the rubble. Rescue operations were suspended overnight, but were due to resume on Sunday.
Haidai also said that two boys aged 11 and 14 were killed in a Russian shelling in the town of Privilege, while two girls aged 8 and 12 and a 69-year-old woman were injured.
Moscow has also tried to encircle southern Ukraine to cut the country off from the sea and create a corridor to the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria, long home to Russian troops. But he is struggling to achieve these goals.
On Saturday, six Russian cruise missiles fired from planes hit Odessa, where a curfew is in effect until Tuesday morning. Videos posted on social media show thick black smoke rising over the Black Sea port city as sirens sound.
The Odessa municipal council said four of the rockets hit a furniture company, with shockwaves and debris causing severe damage to high-rise apartment buildings. The other two missiles hit the airport in Odessa, where the runway had already been removed during a previous Russian attack.
The sirens sounded several times early Sunday, the city council said.
Satellite images analyzed by the Associated Press show that Ukraine is targeting Russia-held Snake Island in an attempt to thwart Russia’s efforts to control the Black Sea. A photo taken early Saturday by Planet Labs PBC shows that most of the island’s buildings were destroyed by Ukrainian drone attacks, and what appears to be a Serna landing against the island’s north beach.
The image corresponds to a Ukrainian military video showing a drone striking a Russian ship, engulfing it in flames. Snake Island, about 35 kilometers (20 miles) from the coast, was involved in a memorable incident at the start of the war, when Ukrainian border guards stationed there opposed Russian orders to surrender, ostensibly using colored language.
In Mariupol, Ukrainian fighters have taken a final stand against Russia’s complete conquest of the strategically important city, which will give Moscow a land bridge to the Crimean peninsula annexed by Ukraine during the 2014 invasion.
Satellite images taken on Friday by Planet Labs PBC show a huge devastation at the vast offshore Azovstal steel plant, the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the city. The buildings had gaping holes in the roofs, including one under which hundreds of fighters were probably hiding.
After rescuers evacuated the last civilians on Saturday, Zelenski said in an evening address that the focus would be on retrieving the wounded and medics: “Of course, if everyone fulfills the agreements. Of course, if there are no lies.
He added that on Sunday work will continue on providing humanitarian corridors for the departure of residents of Mariupol and surrounding cities.
The situation at the plant has attracted the world’s attention, with the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross desperately trying to organize evacuations.
In recent days, fighters inside have described the removal of small groups of civilians who have been hiding there for weeks. The fighters said on social media that both they and the Russians used a white flag system to stop fighting to bring out civilians.
But Russian forces have stepped up fire on the factory with mortars, artillery, truck-mounted missile systems, aerial bombardment and shelling from the sea, making evacuation operations difficult.
Three Ukrainian fighters were reportedly killed and six others injured during an evacuation attempt on Friday. Captain Svyatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the Azov Regiment, said his troops were waving white flags and accused Russian forces of firing anti-tank weapons at a vehicle.
It remains unclear what will happen to approximately 2,000 fighters in Azovstal, both those still in battle and the hundreds believed to be wounded. In recent days, the Ukrainian government has turned to international organizations to try to ensure their safe passage. The fighters have repeatedly sworn not to surrender.
Zelenski said officers are trying to find a way to evacuate them. He acknowledged the difficulty, but said: “We are not losing hope, we are not stopping. Every day we are looking for a diplomatic option that can work.”
According to Ukrainian authorities, Russian forces have explored the plant and even reached its maze of tunnels.
Kharkov, Ukraine’s first Soviet capital with a pre-war population of about 4 million, remained a major target of Russian shelling in the northeast. A spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said on Saturday that the Russian military had also struck large shipments of weapons from the United States and other Western countries with Iskander missiles in the region. His allegations could not be verified independently.
However, Western military analysts say Ukrainian forces are making progress in securing positions around the city. The Ukrainian military said it had regained control of five villages and part of six, and that Russian forces had destroyed three bridges northeast of the city in an attempt to slow Ukraine’s offensive.
The Washington-based think tank, the Institute for War Studies, said in its latest assessment that Ukraine could push Russian forces “out of Kharkov’s artillery reach in the coming days”, providing a break for the city and building the defenders’ momentum. “In a successful, broader counter-offensive.”
During the night, a Russian rocket destroyed a national museum in the Kharkiv region dedicated to the life and work of 18th-century philosopher and poet Grigory Skovoroda, the local council said. He posted photos on Facebook showing the building engulfed in flames.
Zelensky expressed outrage at the rocket attacks on the museum and Odessa, “where almost every street has something memorable, something historical.” He said Russian forces had destroyed or damaged about 200 cultural heritage sites.
“Every day since this war, the Russian army is doing something that leaves you speechless,” he said. “But then the next day he does something that makes you feel this way in a new way.”
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Gambrell reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Jessica Fish in Bakhmut, David Keaton in Kyiv, Juras Karmanau in Lviv, Mstislav Chernov in Kharkov, Lolita S. Baldor in Washington and PA officials around the world contributed to this report.
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