Today, Saturday, Ukraine said that Russian missiles coming from the Crimea destroyed a large part of the airport in the city of Odessa (southern Ukraine), located on the shores of the Black Sea, at a time when Ukrainian forces besieged in the Azovstal complex in Mariupol said that 20 civilians left the complex today. .

In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Sergey Brachuk, spokesman for the Odessa Regional Military Administration, said that Russian missiles represented a real danger, and had destroyed a large part of Odessa airport. However, Brachuk stressed that Ukrainian forces in Odessa are able to defend the city.

The Ukrainian military said the Russian missile attack made it impossible to use the airport again.

The Russian military has not yet commented on the attack on Odessa airport.

Bastion missiles

The governor of the Odessa region, Maxim Marchenko, stated that the Russian bombing was launched from the Crimea and "Bastion" missiles were used, and added that the missile bombardment destroyed the runway of the Odessa airport, but did not result in any casualties.


Russia intermittently targeted the port of Odessa, and Ukraine said a week ago that at least 8 people were killed in the bombing of the city.

In southern Ukraine, too, the spokesman for the Ukrainian General Intelligence Department, Vadim Skipetsky, said that what he described as the Ukrainian resistance is capable of undermining Russia's plans to establish the so-called Kherson People's Republic, as he put it.

And the Ukrainian security spokesman added - in televised statements - that Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to prove his success in the war by the Victory Day anniversary on the ninth of next May.


Skipetsky did not rule out that Russia would take similar measures later with the Zaporizhia and Odessa regions.

Evacuation in Mariupol

In the city of Mariupol, most of which Russia controls, Deputy Commander of the Azov Regiment Svyatoslav Balamar said that today, Saturday, 20 civilians left the Azovstal steel complex, where the last Ukrainian forces are holed up in the port of Mariupol, to head to the city of Zaporozhye.

Earlier on Saturday, the correspondent of the Russian news agency TASS in the city reported that 25 civilians, including 6 children under the age of 14, had left the industrial complex.

Today, the Azov Regiment of the Ukrainian army published pictures, which it described as clear evidence of why civilians in Mariupol, including those hiding in the Azovstal complex, were afraid to leave the cellars and the "occupiers" did not believe about the possibility of a safe evacuation from the city, as he put it.

‼️На цьому відео – наочна демонстрація чому цивільні мешканці Маріуполя, в тому числі ті, які переховуються на території заводу "Азовсталь", бояться виходити з підвалів і не вірять окупантам щодо можливості безпечної евакуації з міста.

pic.twitter.com/qWerd2fcqm

— АЗОВ (@Polk_Azov) April 30, 2022

The pictures show Russian tanks targeting buildings at close range in Mariupol, and then civilians leaving the basements of one of the buildings, according to the Ukrainian Azov forces.

The Azov forces did not specify the date of these photos.

Ukrainian officials estimate there are about 2,000 soldiers inside the compound, along with about 1,000 civilians sheltering in underground tunnels.

Donbass region

In the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that Russian forces targeted infrastructure facilities and bombed the lines of Ukrainian forces along the lines of contact between them.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Army stated in its daily briefing that the Russians are trying to take control of the Lyman regions of Donetsk, Severodonetsk and Popasna in Lugansk, adding, "They are not achieving success, the fighting continues."

Russia hopes to gain full control of the Donbass region, consisting of Luhansk and Donetsk, parts of which were already controlled by Moscow-backed separatists before Moscow launched the war on Ukraine on February 24.

Luhansk Governor Sergey Gaidai told Ukrainian television that the Russians were bombing the whole area "but they cannot penetrate our defenses," adding that the evacuation of civilians would continue despite difficult conditions. Lugansk.

The head of the military administration in Popasna, Mykola Khanatov, said that two buses sent to evacuate civilians from the town were bombed by Russian forces on Friday, and then it was not possible to communicate with the drivers.

He did not say how many people were on the buses.

Kharkiv Front

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, stated that the confrontations raged between the Russian and Ukrainian forces in the south of the city, which is the second largest city in the country and close to the border with Russia.


The Ukrainian General Staff said today that its forces have regained control of 3 towns in the Kharkiv region.

On the other hand, Russian news agencies quoted Alexander Bogomaz, governor of the Bryansk region, as saying that Russian air defenses prevented a Ukrainian plane from entering the region on Saturday, adding that the bombing hit parts of an oil station.

The governor of Russia's Kursk region, Roman Starovit, said that several shells were fired from the direction of Ukraine on Saturday at a checkpoint near its border, adding in a video clip on his Telegram channel that there were no casualties or damage.