Russia launched missile strikes on the city of Odessa in southwestern Ukraine, leaving one dead and five wounded, and continues its attacks to control the regions of Lugansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, while US President Joe Biden approved a decision activating a mechanism dating back to World War II and allowing to accelerate the pace of weapons delivery to Kyiv.
Reuters reported that buildings in the strategic port city of Odessa were reduced to rubble today, Tuesday, a day after Russian forces bombed the city's port with missiles.
European Council President Charles Michel and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal had to take cover from Russian strikes during a surprise visit by the European official to the city of Odessa.
Al-Jazeera correspondent in Odessa reported that a series of explosions occurred at night in the city, and the Military Operations Command announced that several areas were subjected to missile strikes, which targeted a large commercial center in the Fontanka area, east of the city, causing severe destruction and outbreak of fires, injuring 3 people so far.
A missile strike targeted the Suvorovsky district, east of Odessa, which led to the destruction of 3 warehouses and the outbreak of fires, killing one person and wounding two others.
Snake Island
In the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukrainian forces launched "desperate" naval and air attacks on the island of Zminy or Snake in the past two days.
The ministry said that on the direct orders of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and with the direct participation of American and British advisers, the Ukrainian General Staff drew up a plan for a major provocation on Snake Island.
She added that the Ukrainian forces suffered heavy losses during their attempt to control the island, which is 142 km from the coast of Odessa.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the killing of 50 Ukrainians, and said that the bodies of 24 of them were still lying on the island's shore, in addition to the destruction of fighter jets, helicopters, drones and attack boats.
On the other hand, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said today, Tuesday, that Russia's defeat will allow them to reopen the Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea and revive their country's economy. additional military.
Eastern fronts
On the eastern fighting fronts, the Ukrainian General Staff said Tuesday morning that the Russians "continue to prepare offensive operations in the Lyman and Severodonetsk regions" located in the Donbass region.
"Very intense battles are taking place around Robyzhny and Belogorivka", which are within his region, said the governor of Lugansk region, Sergey Gaidai.
And local media quoted officials in Kharkiv as saying that 4 people were killed and several homes destroyed in Russian attacks on the town of Bogodukhov, northwest of Kharkiv, the second largest Ukrainian city.
In a related context, the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) said that the Russians are making gradual progress towards Donbass, but it is slow and facing heavy Ukrainian resistance, stressing that the Russian forces are behind in their schedule.
A spokesman for the US Defense Department said that the Russians are making gradual progress in the Donbass, but it is slow (Anatolia).
A US Defense Department official, who asked not to be named, said that as a result of Western sanctions, Russia is facing difficulties in obtaining supplies of guided missiles used in Ukraine due to the embargo, particularly on electronic components of missiles.
guided missiles
The New York Times quoted a Pentagon official as saying that the war in Ukraine showed that Russia's guided missile program was still in its infancy.
The source cited what he called Russian cruise missiles that missed their targets or failed to launch.
The military official pointed out that the Russians rely on unguided artillery shells or guided ballistic missiles and inaccurate cruise missiles.
In the city of Mariupol (southeastern Ukraine), Reuters news agency quoted Petro Andryushenko, the assistant mayor of Mariupol, that about 100 civilians are still in the Azovstal steel complex, east of the city, adding that the pace of the Russian attack on the complex has not decreased.
The last Ukrainian forces are holed up in Azovstal in Mariupol, which is surrounded by Russian and separatist forces from all directions.
Biden and Putin
On the political front, on Monday, the US President signed the “Lend-and-Lease Act for the Defense of Democracy in Ukraine” that would speed up the delivery of weapons to Kyiv, and the law relies on a mechanism adopted by former US President Franklin Roosevelt in 1941, and was aimed at helping Europe to resist the leader Germany Adolf Hitler.
On Monday, the Biden administration issued an urgent appeal to Congress to approve massive additional funding for Ukraine by May 19, saying it is critical to Washington's ability to ensure the continued flow of security assistance to Kyiv.
And Reuters reported that Democrats in Congress have approved a proposal to provide $39.8 billion in additional aid to Ukraine, exceeding what the Biden administration requested last month, which is $33 billion.
Biden's signing of the law came on the same day that Russia held a large military parade on Red Square in Moscow on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, during which Putin repeated his arguments to justify the war he has been waging against Ukraine since last February 24.
He said that Kyiv was preparing to attack pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country, sought to obtain an atomic bomb, and was receiving support from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Preparing to conquer Russian lands.