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Russian missiles have pounded the Black Sea port of Odesa in strikes that killed one person and injured five, Ukraine reported overnight.
Ukraine’s armed forces said a civilian shopping centre was hit and buildings set ablaze by seven missiles fired at the city, disrupting a visit to Odesa by European Council President Charles Michel.
Mr Michel and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal took cover in a bomb shelter as air raid sirens sounded in the southern port, where officials say the war has brought Ukraine’s food exports to a standstill.
“For the first time in decades there is no usual movement of the merchant fleet, no usual port functioning in Odesa. Probably this has never happened in Odesa since the Second World War,” said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
There were conflicting descriptions of the arms fired at Odesa. Local armed forces said the missiles were ageing Soviet-era models, while a Ukrainian think tank tracking the war identified them as modern hypersonic missiles.
Ukraine said the attacks were meant to put psychological pressure on civilians, while a Pentagon official said the US did not foresee any ground attack on Odesa.
The official said Russia was hemmed in by its lack of territorial gains and that its Black Sea fleet was keeping its distance from the coast, but that striking Odesa could divert Ukraine’s focus from the battle further east in the Donbas.
“We think part of the reason they're striking there is … maybe pinning down Ukrainian forces in or around that area so that they are not available or they won't feel like they should be made available to move to the Donbas,” they said.
Russia, which claims to be aiming at military targets, said it had taken out six Ukrainian helicopters near a military airfield to the west of Odesa.
The strikes came on the day that both countries commemorated the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany 77 years ago. The anniversary had prompted speculation that Russia would announce a shift in strategy.
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An injured Ukrainian service member sits at a field hospital inside Azovstal steel works in Mariupol, Ukraine. Reuters -
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a meeting in Kyiv with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra. Reuters -
Ukrainian servicemen study a Swedish shoulder-launched weapon system during a training session near Kharkiv. AP Photo -
Russian emergency personnel clear debris inside Mariupol's drama theatre. AFP -
Ukrainian servicemen study a map near Kharkiv. EPA -
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an online meeting with the Saratov region's acting governor, Roman Busargin, in Moscow. AP -
Belgian soldiers take part in a Nato military exercise near Munster, Germany. Getty -
Ukraine's prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova, left, speaks with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, right, during her visit to mass graves in Bucha, Ukraine. EPA -
A guard of honour stands at attention during the funerals of Sgt Olexandr Moisenko and Sergiy Turpetko in Lviv, Ukraine. Getty -
Plumes of smoke rise above the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol amid Russian shelling. AFP -
US President Joe Biden signs into law a measure making it easier for Washington to send weapons and supplies to the government in Kyiv. Bloomberg -
A Ukrainian soldier fires with a mortar, in the Kharkiv region. Reuters -
The Eiffel Tower is lit up in blue and yellow, the national colours of Ukraine, to express solidarity with its people at the request of the French Presidency of the EU, in Paris. Reuters -
A Ukrainian Army tank drives over an infantryman during a training exercise near Kryvyi Rih. Getty Images -
A Ukrainian soldier rests in his room at a front-line field hospital near Popasna, Luhansk region. EPA -
Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Memorial to Hero Cities at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier after the Victory Day military parade in Moscow. EPA -
Ukrainian refugees from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol are seen in a bus as they arrive at a humanitarian aid centre for internally displaced people, in Zaporizhzhia. Reuters -
A hotel complex destroyed by a Russian missile is pictured in Odesa, Ukraine. Reuters -
Maksym, 3, is photographed with his brother, Dmytro, 16, on top of a destroyed Russian tank on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP Photo -
A video of a press conference from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol by Azov regiment servicemen Illia Samoilenko, right, and Sviatoslav Palamar, seen on a computer screen in Kyiv. EPA -
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy take part in a online meeting of G7 leaders in Kyiv. Reuters -
US first lady Jill Biden greets Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, outside a public school in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. Reuters -
Irish singer and activist Bono, the lead vocalist of rock band U2, performs at a subway station that has been turned into a bomb shelter in Kyiv. AFP -
A boy looks out of a bus window as people evacuated from Mariupol arrive in Zaporizhzhia. AFP -
A night-vision image shows fire on Ukraine's Zmiinyi Island. Reuters -
Women sing the Ukrainian national anthem below the Euro Monument during a demonstration in Frankfurt, Germany. AP -
Emergency personnel at a school building hit by shelling, in the village of Bilohorivka, Luhansk. Reuters -
A man plays piano in an abandoned photo studio in Severodonetsk, eastern Ukraine. AFP -
A man and his son wait for an evacuation bus in Lysychansk, eastern Ukraine. AFP -
Volunteers deliver food supplies to residents, taken from the warehouse of a humanitarian aid distribution centre in Severodonetsk. AFP -
An unexploded ordnance on a road in Severodonetsk. AFP -
Galina Abdurashikova, 65, has been staying in an abondoned car in front of her apartment since her room was destroyed by shelling five days ago, in Severodonetsk. AFP -
A large hole at the site where a missile strike hit a residential area in Bakhmut, Donetsk region. Reuters -
A man searches for useful items inside his house after a missile strike in a residential area, in Bakhmut. Reuters -
Two men look at the damage after a missile struck a cement plant, in Bakhmut. Reuters -
Civilians attempting to leave Mariupol wait in line at a checkpoint near the temporary accommodation centre in Bezimenoye village. EPA -
Civilians who were evacuated from Azovstal, walk in the temporary accommodation centre in Bezimenoye village, near Mariupol. EPA -
A cyclist photographs the destroyed bridge over the Irpin river, in Irpin. Getty Images -
A residential area destroyed by Russian shelling, in Irpin. Reuters -
People with their luggage walk to a station to wait for the evacuation train heading to the west of Ukraine, in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region. EPA -
A volunteer shapes metal plates at a factory producing material for Ukrainian soldiers in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. AP -
Workers clean shattered glass and debris in front of a residential building next to a site of a Russian missile attack in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa. AFP -
A Ukrainian Army tank moves towards a fron-tline position in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Getty Images -
Eugene Yevchenko cries as he bids farewell to his daughter Maria at a coach station in Lviv. Getty Images -
A child stands on a destroyed Russian tank near Makariv, Kyiv region. Reuters -
A Ukrainian national guard soldier mans a fighting position near the front line in Zelenodolsk. Getty Images -
Museum workers carry the sculpture of Ukrainian philosopher Hryhorri Skovoroda from the destroyed building of the Hryhoriy Skovoroda National Literary Memorial Museum in the village of Skovorodynivka, in Kharkiv Region. AFP
But the day passed with no major announcements from the Russian side, with President Vladimir Putin instead invoking the Soviet wartime spirit by claiming his forces were fighting to defeat neo-Nazis in Ukraine.
Western powers reject this narrative as a spurious excuse for an invasion which they say has failed to meet the Kremlin’s objectives after almost 11 weeks of fighting.
Britain’s Defence Ministry said in a regular intelligence update on Tuesday that Russia had underestimated Ukraine’s resistance and planned for a swift invasion which would encounter limited opposition.
As a result, Russia took a relatively light approach to its early battles in a miscalculation which “led to unsustainable losses and a subsequent reduction in Russia’s operational focus,” the ministry said.
Ukraine said Russia was pushing for full control of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, going beyond the territory held by pro-Kremlin separatists before the invasion. It said artillery fire was being used along the line of contact in the east.
Air raid sirens could be heard across several regions of Ukraine early on Tuesday including Luhansk, Kharkiv and Dnipro, Reuters reported. Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk, said the region had been attacked 22 times in the past 24 hours.
