Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

(Reuters) – Russia resumed its assault on the last Ukrainian defenders holed up in a giant steel works in Mariupol, a Ukrainian official said, days after Moscow declared victory in the southern port city and said its forces did not need to take the factory.

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FIGHTING

* At least five people were killed and 18 injured in a missile strike on Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa, the president’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said in an online post. Ukraine’s southern air command had earlier said that two missiles struck a military facility and two residential buildings in Odesa.

* An artillery strike on the frontline town of Zolote in the eastern Luhansk region killed two civilians and wounded two others, Governor Serhiy Haidai said.

* Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet and destroyed three MI-8 helicopters at an airfield in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.

CIVILIANS

* A new attempt to evacuate Ukrainian civilians from war-torn Mariupol failed on Saturday, an aide to the city’s mayor said, blaming Russian forces. The official said 200 residents of Mariupol had gathered to be evacuated, but that the Russian military told them to disperse and warned of possible shelling.

DIPLOMACY

* Germany must do everything in its power to help Ukraine win the war against Russia but without endangering its own security and NATO’s defence capability, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said.

QUOTES

* “I want to see the sun because in here it’s dim, not like outside. When our houses are rebuilt we can live in peace. Let Ukraine win because Ukraine is our native home,” an unnamed boy speaking on a video released by the Azov battalion showing civilians holed up in a steel works in Mariupol.

COMING UP

* U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, traveling to Moscow on Tuesday. He will then head to Ukraine for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

(Compiled by Frances Kerry)

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