On Saturday, Russian forces renewed the bombing of the Ukrainian city of Odessa, and while Kyiv said that its forces carried out a heroic operation in the Black Sea, Russia accused the United States of participating directly in the fighting in Ukraine.
A spokesman for the Odessa Regional Administration, Serhiy Prachuk, said that several missiles fell on the coastal city of Odessa in southern Ukraine on Saturday.
Brachuk added that the strikes hit the city after targets in the surrounding area were bombed with 4 missiles earlier in the day.
Brachuk did not elaborate on the new strikes, saying the facts were still being confirmed.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced that its forces destroyed 18 Ukrainian military facilities and 3 ammunition and fuel depots in Odessa.
Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that a missile attack targeted the Odessa region, and smoke rose from locations west of the city.
continuous attacks
In Mariupol, the evacuation of civilians is expected to continue ahead of Moscow's celebrations of Victory Day over Nazi Germany on May 9.
And the Ukrainian Defense Ministry confirmed - in its morning statement - today, Saturday, that "the enemy has not stopped its attack."
"In Mariupol, the enemy continues to repel the Ukrainian defense units in the vicinity of Azovstal," the ministry added, stressing that the Russians destroyed 3 road bridges "to slow down the counterattack" in the Kharkiv region.
According to the same source, missile strikes were recorded in the last 24 hours in the Kharkiv region of the city of Mykolaiv, south of the Donetsk region.
The Ministry of Defense of the "Separatist Republic of Donetsk" said that 50 people were evacuated today, Saturday, from the Azovstal industrial zone in Mariupol.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshuk also said that 50 people were evacuated on Friday, accusing Russia of continuing to violate the ceasefire, as she put it.
destroy bridges
In Kharkiv, the Ukrainian General Staff said that the Russian forces had deliberately destroyed 3 bridges in order to thwart the counterattacks launched by the Ukrainian forces at the front.
And the Russian Defense Ministry announced that its forces destroyed huge amounts of American and European equipment in the Kharkiv region.
The Ukrainian army said that it managed to repel 8 attacks by the Russian army in various axes in the Donbass region.
In Ukraine's Lugansk province, the mayor of the province said that Russian forces heavily bombed residential neighborhoods in Leschansk after failing to control the cities of Rubzhneh and Vovde Yevka, and that they suffer from an acute shortage of equipment and personnel.
no giving up
For its part, Kyiv announced today, Saturday, that it destroyed a Russian landing ship on the Ukrainian Snake Island in the Black Sea, as the performance of the Ukrainian forces was described as heroic for their refusal of Russian calls for surrender.
A Ukrainian Defense Ministry statement said that an armed drone destroyed a "Syrna" landing craft and a missile defense system on the small island under Russian control.
The ministry published on social media a black and white recording taken from the air, apparently showing an explosion that hit a small ship and the wreckage flying from it.
In a separate statement - published on social media - the ministry announced that a "Bayraktar" drone had destroyed a "Tor-M2" anti-aircraft missile system during its transfer to the island.
And earlier this May, Ukraine announced that its forces' drones had destroyed two Russian observation boats near the island.
Snake Island became a symbol in Ukraine;
During the first day of the conflict, a recording of radio communication was widely circulated in which Ukrainian border guards on Little Snake Island responded to a Russian ship, urging them to surrender, telling its crew, "Go to hell!"
This recording achieved a great spread around the world and constituted a title for the Ukrainian resistance. It even appeared on banners during demonstrations of support abroad and is now on stamps.
After this recording, the island was bombed by the ship and taken over by the Russians. The Ukrainian soldiers were captured, and later released in a prisoner exchange with Moscow.
America in the field
In the same context, the Speaker of the Russian House of Representatives (Duma) accused Washington - today, Saturday - of coordinating military operations in Ukraine, in what he described as amounting to direct US interference in military operations against Russia.
"Washington mainly coordinates and develops military operations, and therefore directly participates in military operations against our country," Vyacheslav Volodin said - via his Telegram channel.
Washington and European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) provided Kyiv with heavy weapons to help it resist the Russian attack that resulted in the occupation of eastern and southern Ukraine, but it failed to control Kyiv.
But the United States and its NATO allies have repeatedly said that they will not take part in the fighting themselves in order to avoid becoming a party to the conflict.
US officials said the United States provided intelligence to Ukraine to help counter the Russian attack, but they denied that this information contained accurate targeting data.