Ukraine war: Russian airstrikes target Black Sea coastal regions. The Ukrainian military reported that on Tuesday, Russian aircraft destroyed private property and port infrastructure along the country’s southern coast in the Black Sea regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv in Ukraine.
Operational Command South of Ukraine claimed on Facebook that the attack was carried out by forces loyal to the Kremlin using air-launched missiles.
According to the allegation, several private structures in coastal communities near Odesa were hit and set on fire. Despite the agreement Moscow and Kyiv signed last week that was meant to allow grain shipments from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports to restart, port infrastructure in the Mykolaiv region was attacked.
Ukraine war: Russian airstrikes target Black Sea coastal regions. The Odesa and Mykolaiv districts would soon be “liberated” by Russian forces, just like the already-occupied Kherson region farther east, according to a Moscow-installed official in southern Ukraine hours after the strikes.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti described Kirill Stremousov, the region’s representative, as saying, “The Kherson region and the city of Kherson have been liberated permanently.”
In the meantime, Russia’s top diplomat said that Moscow was prepared to speak with Ukraine about ending the conflict, even as he asserted once more that Kyiv’s Western partners were opposed to a compromise.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday while visiting Uganda, “We never refused to have talks because everybody understands that any hostilities finish at the negotiating table.”
After a meeting between the two parties in Istanbul at the end of March, he said that negotiations had stalled.
There isn’t even one safe area remaining
The British Defense Ministry stated on Tuesday that there was no evidence a Ukrainian warship and a stockpile of anti-ship missiles were at the port of Odesa, as Moscow claimed when it struck the location over the weekend, despite the fact that Ukrainian officials have spoken of a potential counteroffensive in the south.
The Russian government, according to the British ministry, views Ukraine’s employment of anti-ship missiles as “a key threat” that is constraining its Black Sea Fleet.
The military stated that Russia cannot practically try an amphibious assault to seize Odesa, which has seriously damaged the overall invasion plan. Russian measures to weaken and eliminate Ukraine’s anti-ship capacity will continue to be given top priority.
It said, “It is quite likely that outdated intelligence, bad planning, and a top-down approach to operations consistently weaken Russia’s targeting methods.”
In other military news, the Ukrainian president’s office reported on Tuesday that over the past 24 hours, Russian shelling in Ukraine has resulted in at least three civilian deaths and eight further injuries.
The main cities in the area, including Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Toretsk, were targeted by Russian forces in the eastern Donetsk region, where combat has been concentrated in recent weeks, according to the presidential office. Shelling also continued throughout the whole front line.
Russian troops were allegedly deploying cluster munitions, according to Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, who also renewed his appeal for people to flee.
Kyrylenko declared on television that “there is not a single safe area left, everything is being shelled.” However, the civilian population still has access to escape routes.
Analysts: Wagner mercenaries seize a power plant
Moscow was reportedly using mercenaries from the mysterious Wagner Group to seize control of the Vuhledar Power Plant on the northern borders of the village of Novoluhanske, according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.
However, the Ukrainian General Staff claims that “minimal gains” have been made there by Russian soldiers.
Currently, the main Russian objective is to take Bakhmut, which is necessary for the Russian forces to advance on the major Ukrainian strongholds in Donetsk, the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
The Institute for the Study of War states that Russian forces “made modest gains south of Bakhmut but are unlikely to be able to successfully utilize these advances to capture full control of Bakhmut itself.”
The second-largest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv, as well as the surrounding area in the northeast have continued to be targeted by Russian forces for attack.
The strikes on the city continued after dawn on Tuesday, according to Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov, and a car dealership was destroyed.
According to Syniehubov, “the Russians purposefully target civilian infrastructure objects, such as hospitals, schools, and movie theaters.” We are advising people to stay away from large crowds because “everything is being fired at, even lines for humanitarian goods.”
According to Annalena Baerbock, the foreign minister of Germany, Moscow seeks “the complete subordination of Ukraine and its people.”
During a trip to Russia, Baerbock remarked, “We must be ready for this battle to endure months. Russia is waging this war with utter savagery and in a way that no one else would.
