Russian forces pound port of Odesa, targeting Ukraine supply lines

With the war now in its 11th week and Kyiv bogging Russian forces down in many places and even staging a counteroffensive in others, Ukraine’s foreign minister appeared to suggest that the country could expand its aims beyond merely pushing Russia back to areas it or its allies held on the day of Feb.The Ukrainian military said Tuesday that Russian forces fired seven missiles a day earlier from the air at Ukraine's largest port, Odesa, hitting a shopping center and a warehouse.With Russian forces struggling to gain ground in the Donbas, military analysts suggest that hitting Odesa might serve to stoke concern about southwestern Ukraine, thus forcing Kyiv to station more forces there.“In the first months of the war the victory for us looked like withdrawal of Russian forces to the positions they occupied before Feb.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock traveled to the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, where the bodies of of civilians — some bound, burned or shot at close range — were found after Russian forces withdrew.Photo: The Canadian Press Russian troops pounded away at the vital port of Odesa, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday, apparently as part of efforts to disrupt the supply lines and weapons shipments that have been critical to Kyiv's defense.