Russia fires a barrage of hypersonic missiles in Odessa after celebrating the patriotic holiday | CBC News

Latest political events

• The head of the UN human rights monitoring mission said the death toll in Ukraine is probably considerably higher than the official figure, which stands at 3,381 dead civilians.

• The World Health Organization estimates that at least 3,000 people have died in Ukraine because they were unable to access treatment for chronic illnesses.

• Ukrainian, British and American officials warn that Russia’s stock of precision weapons is running low, meaning the country may have to resort to more inaccurate rockets, which could cause more civilian deaths.

• French President Emmanuel Macron and the Hungarian Prime Minister are expected to discuss a possible European Union ban on oil imports from Russia on Tuesday.

Updates from the field on day 76 of the war

• The bodies of 44 civilians were found in the rubble of a building destroyed by Russia in March, in Izyum, in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine.

• The Ukrainian military said Russia fired seven missiles at the port city of Odessa, hitting a shopping mall and a warehouse and killing one person.

• Heavy fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, where Russia has refocused its efforts.

• Ukrainian troops are making a last stand at a steel plant in Mariupol, the last remaining stronghold in the strategic port city of Mariupol.

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Russia attacks with ‘the dagger’

A barrage of attacks hit the strategically located port city of Odessa in Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrated his country’s biggest patriotic holiday on Monday without being able to boast of any major battlefield successes.

The Ukrainian military said Russian forces fired seven missiles from the air at Odessa, hitting a shopping center and a warehouse. One person died and five were injured, according to the military.

The Center for Defense Strategies, a Ukrainian think tank monitoring the war, said a Russian supersonic bomber fired three hypersonic missiles during the attack. He identified the weapons used as Kinzhal, or “Dagger”, hypersonic air-to-ground missiles.

The Kinzhal can fly at five times the speed of sound and has a range of 2,000 kilometers. The use of advanced guided missiles allows Russia to fire from aircraft at a distance without being in Ukrainian airspace and exposed to possible anti-aircraft fire.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian, British and American officials are warning that Russia is rapidly depleting its stock of precision weapons and may not be able to build any faster. That increases the risk of more inaccurate rockets being used as the conflict progresses, which could result in more civilian deaths and other collateral damage.

44 found buried in the rubble

Ukrainian officials announced Tuesday that the bodies of 44 civilians were found in the rubble of a five-story building in the northeast, which was destroyed in an attack weeks ago.

“This is another horrible war crime by the Russian occupiers against the civilian population!” Oleh Synehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional administration, in a social media post announcing the deaths.

The building collapsed in March in Izyum in the Kharkiv region. The area has been under sustained Russian attack since the start of the war in late February.

UN says death toll considerably higher

According the last update According to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 3,381 civilians have been killed and 3,680 injured in Ukraine since the invasion began at 4 a.m. on February 24.

But the head of the UN rights monitoring mission said the death toll is believed to be considerably higher than official records show.

The European head of the World Health Organization has also published sobering figures, estimating that at least 3,000 people have died in the country as a result of lack of access to treatment for chronic diseases.

So far, the world health agency has documented some 200 attacks in Ukraine against health care facilities, and few hospitals are currently functioning.

In a speech, the WHO regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, said that “40 percent of households have at least one member who needs chronic treatment that they can no longer find, resulting in an estimated at least 3,000 preventable premature deaths.

Heavy fighting continues in the east

Heavy fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, with Ukrainian defenders still being held at a steel plant in the southern port city of Mariupol.

One of the Ukrainian fighters who made a last stand at the steel plant said they were still defending the city.

Valeri Paditel, who heads the border guards in the Donetsk region, said the fighters were “doing everything to make those who defend the city proud in the future.”

The Ukrainian military warned on Tuesday that Russia could attack the country’s chemical industries. The claim was not immediately explained in the report, but Russian bombing raids previously targeted oil depots and other industrial sites during the war.

Grinding war is hard work from town to town

Satellite photos on Monday showed intense fires in Russian-controlled territory in southern Ukraine. The cause of the fires was not immediately clear. However, Planet Labs images showed thick smoke rising to the east of Vasylivka, a town flanked by nature reserves.

After unexpectedly fierce resistance forced the Kremlin to abandon its attempt to storm kyiv more than a month ago, Moscow’s forces have focused on capturing Donbas, Ukraine’s eastern industrial region.

But the fight there has been back and forth, town by town. Some analysts suggested that Putin could declare the fighting a war, not just a “special military operation,” and order a national mobilization and call up of reserves to fight a protracted conflict.

CLOCK | Putin Justifies Ukraine Invasion During WWII Victory Celebrations: