Russia struck key Ukrainian cities in the south and east overnight, including the strategic port of Odessa — after President Biden said he was concerned that Russian President Vladimir Putin “doesn’t have a way out” of the war despite failing to divide the NATO military alliance or European Union.
A volley of Russian missiles resulted in casualties in Odessa and included three Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, a Ukrainian official said. But the Pentagon assessed that Russian forces do not have the capability to launch a ground or maritime offensive against the Black Sea gateway. Russian forces continued to assault the embattled Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukrainian officials said, estimating that about 1,000 of the shattered port city’s last remaining fighters are still holed up there, with hundreds injured. Meanwhile, a regional official in Kharkiv said 44 bodies were pulled from the rubble of a building in Izyum that Russia destroyed in March.