Russia carried out rocket attacks on southern and eastern Ukraine on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said, including one that destroyed the runway at the central airport in the strategic Black Sea port of Odessa. Moscow has turned its attention to southern and eastern Ukraine after failing to occupy the capital, Kyiv, in a nine-week offensive that razed cities, killed thousands of people and forced more than 5 million to flee abroad. Its forces have largely occupied the eastern port of Mariupol and occupied the southern city of Kherson, based just 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of the Ukrainian peninsula of Ukraine, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. West of the Odessa Peninsula, which is still relatively untouched by the war, a Russian missile strike fired from the Crimea destroyed the runway at the main airport, said Maxim Marchenko, regional governor of Odessa. “Thank God no one was injured. “Measures are being taken against sabotage in the region,” Marchenko said. The Ukrainian military said the airport could no longer be used. There has been no immediate comment on the attack by Moscow, whose forces have occasionally targeted Odessa, Ukraine’s third largest city. Eight people were killed in a Russian strike in the city last week, Ukrainian officials said. Moscow’s attack on the south is partly aimed at linking the region to Crimea, as it pushes for full control of the eastern Donbass region of Ukraine. Parts of the two Donbass provinces, Luhansk and Donetsk, were already controlled by Russian-backed separatists before the February 24 invasion of Moscow. In the city of Dobropillia in Donetsk, the shock wave from Saturday’s strike blew through the windows of an apartment building and left a large crater in the yard. A resident, who gave only his first name Andriy, said his partner was in a courtyard room at the time of the attack and fell unconscious. “Thank God the four children were in the kitchen,” he said, standing in the damaged living room. Residents sifted their belongings to see what could be saved. “Around 9:20 a.m. “This happiness flew into our house,” said another resident sarcastically, Oleh. “Everything has been destroyed.” Moscow calls its actions a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid itself of Western-instigated anti-Russian nationalism. Ukraine and the West say Russia has launched an unprovoked offensive war. Despite weeks of peace talks, both sides seemed to be as far apart as ever on Saturday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the lifting of Western sanctions on Moscow was part of the negotiations, but senior Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak denied that it had happened. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, insists that the sanctions must be strengthened and can not be negotiated. He warned on Friday that talks could break down over what he called Russia’s “game book for killing people”. Ukraine accuses Russian troops of atrocities as they withdrew from areas near Kyiv in early April. Moscow denies the allegations. The negotiators last met face to face on March 29 and have since spoken via video link. The United States and its European allies have imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia’s economy and provided arms and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. US President Joe Biden is calling for a $ 33 billion aid package for Kyiv, including $ 20 billion in weapons, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday that his country would continue to “provide the Ukrainians with the equipment they need.” ». Lavrov said that if Washington and its allies in the US-led NATO military alliance really wanted to resolve the crisis, they would have to stop sending weapons to Kyiv. Russia reported more Ukrainian strikes on its territory on Saturday. Officials in Russia’s Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine and Belarus, said air defenses had blocked the entry of a Ukrainian aircraft. The resulting bombings hit parts of a Russian oil terminal, they said. South of Bryansk in the Kursk region of Russia, also on the border with Ukraine, several shells were fired from Ukraine at a Russian checkpoint, said Kursk Governor Roman Starovit. There were no casualties or damage, he added. Ukraine has not directly claimed responsibility for a number of such incidents on Russian soil. However, he described a series of explosions in southern Russia on Wednesday as “dampening” and “karma” for the Moscow invasion. In Ukraine, Luhansk Governor Sergie Gaidai said the Russians were bombing the whole area “but they could not pass our defense.” He said the civilians would continue to flee despite the difficult situation. Gaidai said two schools and 20 houses were destroyed by Russian attacks on Friday in the cities of Rubizne and Popasna in Luhansk. Mykola Khanatov, head of the military administration in Popasna, said two buses sent to evacuate civilians from the city were fired upon by Russian troops on Friday and there was no briefing from drivers. He did not say how many people were on the buses. In besieged Mariupol, where UN efforts are under way to evacuate civilians and fighters from the steel plant, 25 civilians, including six children, left the plant on Saturday, the Russian news agency TASS reported. It was not clear where the civilians had gone and Reuters could not independently verify the report. The Ukrainian military said Russian planes struck Mariupol on Saturday, focusing on the steel plant.
