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Russia has already confirmed its intention to attack Odessa on its way to Moldova – this strike will be the first step in an invasion that extends beyond Ukraine’s borders, ITV News correspondent Peter Smith reported.
At least eight people have been killed, including a three-month-old baby, in a Russian rocket attack on Odessa, Ukraine’s president has confirmed.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said Russian forces had fired at least six cruise missiles at the Black Sea port city, and that Ukrainian forces had fired several missiles, but at least one had landed and exploded.
“Residents of the city heard explosions in different areas,” Gerashchenko wrote. “Residential buildings were damaged.”
The death toll cannot be confirmed independently.
In response to the escalation, Vladimir Zelensky told a news conference in Kyiv: “Eight people died in the attack, 18 to 20 people were injured, a three-month-old baby died and a three-month-old child was killed. baby.
“This war started when this baby was one month old, can you imagine, can you imagine what’s going on. They’re just scum, just scum, I have no other words to use in this context.”
A curfew has been imposed across the country for Orthodox Easter, with many churches facing the prospect of a churchless Easter – Vladimir Putin has refused to cease fire.
In the regions most affected by the invasion – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye, Kharkiv, Nikolaev, Kherson – curfew will last from 19:00 on Saturday to 5:00 on Sunday.
In other regions, including Kyiv, Odessa, Chernihiv and Lviv, curfews will run from 11pm on Saturday to 5am on Sunday.
The attack on Odessa came when Zelensky held a rare press conference in which he confirmed that he would meet with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Sunday, but he did not share further details about the visit.
The White House declined to comment on Saturday, but this is a huge change since Minister Blinken’s visit in March, when he briefly crossed the border into Poland, ITV News correspondent Emma Murphy said.
Mr Zelensky has for weeks called on Western allies to send more weapons to Ukraine to counter the Russian invasion.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to the Ukrainian president by telephone on Saturday afternoon and confirmed that the United Kingdom would reopen its embassy in Kyiv next week, and also told Zelensky that the United Kingdom was imposing new sanctions on members of the Russian army.
The British government has also helped gather evidence of war crimes, and the Met Police war crimes team is working on evidence of war crimes in Ukraine to assess whether they can be used to support genocide charges at the International Criminal Court.
The prime minister told Zelensky that the United Kingdom is sending more defensive weapons, including vehicles, drones and anti-tank missiles, to Ukraine to help with military efforts. Mr Zelensky warned that Moscow had ambitions to take over other countries after a Russian general revealed that Vladimir Putin planned to take “full control” of southern Ukraine.
He suggested that the invasion of his country – which forced more than 5.1 million people to flee – could only be the initial phase of further Russian expansion into Europe.
“All nations that, like us, believe in the victory of life over death must fight us. They must help us, because we are first in line. And who will come next?” This is what Zelenski said in a video address.
“The Russian invasion of Ukraine was considered just the beginning; in addition, they want to seize other countries, “he added.
The attack in Odessa gives us a sense of where Russia believes the next phase of the war is going, said ITV News Global Security editor Rohit Kachroo.
The Ukrainian president was speaking after Rustam Minekayev, acting commander of the Central Military District, was quoted as saying that full control of southern Ukraine would give it access to Transnistria, a pro-Russian breakaway state internationally recognized as part of Moldova.
Minekayev said the plan is also to establish a land border with Crimea, a region previously controlled by Ukraine, which Russia annexed in 2014, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.
Vladimir Zelensky spoke from Kyiv on Friday. Credit: The press service of the Ukrainian president through the AP
The general’s comments have sparked diplomatic concern around the world, with the Moldovan Foreign Ministry saying it had summoned Moscow’s ambassador on Friday to express “deep concern”.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the US State Department said Washington strongly supports the sovereignty of Moldova, which applied to join the European Union only last month.
The assurance came after Russia called for more attacks on Ukrainian targets.
On Saturday, the country’s defense ministry said its forces had shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet and destroyed three MI-8 helicopters at an airport near Kharkiv. These allegations cannot be verified independently.
People are walking near a burning apartment after it was hit during a Russian bombing in Kharkov. Credit: AP
Russian forces are constantly shelling all Ukrainian-controlled cities in the eastern Luhansk region, the region’s governor Sergei Haidai said.
Mr Haidai confirmed that two people had been killed in a Russian shelling in the town of Popasna.
Separately, Kharkiv Regional Governor Oleg Sinegubov said on Saturday that two people had been killed and 19 others wounded in Russian shelling.
Despite ongoing attacks from Moscow, the latest intelligence update from the Ministry of Defense says that Russian forces have not been very successful in the last day due to effective Ukrainian counterattacks.
It says Russia’s air and naval forces “have not established control in any area due to the effectiveness of Ukraine’s air and naval defenses, reducing their ability to make significant progress.”
Russia said on Friday that one serviceman had died and 27 others had disappeared after a fire aboard the warship Moscow, which sank a week ago after a rocket attack that Ukrainians boasted about.
The Russian military said earlier that everyone on board had been rescued.
After what many considered an unsuccessful initial military campaign, it is now alleged that Russian forces are maneuvering for an expected battle for the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine.
A map drawn up by the Ministry of Defense shows the movements of Russian troops as Moscow refocuses its offensive.
Ukrainian authorities say Moscow has relocated a dozen troops from the shattered southern port of Mariupol, which Russia claims near full control, to eastern Ukraine.
It is estimated that more than 100,000 people are still trapped in the besieged city, with little food, water or heat.
Satellite images surfaced on Friday, showing a second possible location for a mass grave in a town near Mariupol, where Ukrainian defenders are hiding in a steel plant.
In an update, adviser to Ukrainian President Alexei Arestovich said on Saturday that Russian forces had resumed air strikes on the Azovstal steel plant. “The enemy is trying to stifle the final resistance of the defenders of Mariupol in the Azovstal region,” he said.
Arestovich’s claim has not been confirmed independently, but if confirmed, the attacks appear to indicate another change in Russian tactics, as Putin canceled a military attack on steel plants on Thursday.
As diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the war continue, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has announced he will visit separate Russian and Ukrainian leaders next week to push for an end to the fighting.
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