The runway of the airport of the southwestern port city of Odessa has been rendered useless after a Russian missile strike on Saturday, the Ukrainian military said.

Russia has sporadically targetted Odessa, a Black Sea port, and a week ago, Ukraine said at least eight people were killed in a strike on the city.

“As a result of a missile attack in the Odessa region, the runway at Odessa airport was damaged. Its further use is impossible,” the Ukrainian military said. There was no immediate word on the strike from the Russian military.

The Governor of Odessa Maksym Marchenko announced on Telegram that the Russian attack came from the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

Rockets from the “Bastion” coastal defense system were used, he said.

Donbass offensive resumes

Russian forces also pounded Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region on Saturday. Moscow hopes to take full control of the region made up of the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, parts of which were already controlled by Russian-backed separatists before the invasion.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in a daily update that the Russians were trying to capture the areas of Lyman in Donetsk and Sievierodonetsk and Popasna in Luhansk, adding they are “Not succeeding – the fighting continues.”

The war since Feb. 24 has turned cities to rubble, killed thousands and forced 5 million Ukrainians to flee abroad. Russia turned its focus to the south and east after failing to capture the capital, Kyiv.

Moscow calls its actions a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of extreme anti-Russian nationalism fomented by the West. Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war of aggression.

Peace talks

While there have been efforts since the start of the war to hold peace talks, the two sides are far apart – which was illustrated by conflicting comments on the efforts by senior Russian and Ukrainian officials on Saturday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in remarks published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website, said lifting Western sanctions on Russia was part of the talks, but senior Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak denied this was the case.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has insisted since the Russian invasion that sanctions needed to be strengthened and could not be part of negotiations. He said on Friday there was a high risk the talks would end because of what he called Russia’s “playbook on murdering people.”

Ukraine accuses Russian troops of atrocities in areas near Kyiv that they previously occupied. Moscow denies the claims.

Lavrov said that if the United States and other NATO countries were truly interested in resolving the Ukrainian crisis, they should stop sending weapons to Kyiv.

In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden’s proposed $33 billion aid package for Ukraine, including $20 billion for weapons, has received bipartisan support. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday she hoped Congress would pass the package as soon as possible.

French President Emmanuel Macron told Zelenskyy during a call on Saturday that his country would step up military and humanitarian support for Ukraine.

Source:dailysabah.com