The runway of the main airport in Ukraine’s Odessa was destroyed in a Russian missile attack, officials said, as Ukrainian forces fought village by village in the east of the country to stem Moscow’s advance.
In a late-night video address on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the newly built airstrip in the strategic Black Sea port had been demolished but promised to rebuild it.
“Of course we’re going to build it up again. But Odessa will never forget Russia’s behavior towards him,” he said.
Regional officials said the missile was fired from Russia’s annexed Crimea peninsula and the airport is no longer operational.
Maksym Marchenko, the governor of the Odessa region, said Russian forces used a Bastion missile in the attack.
“Thank God no one was hurt. Anti-sabotage measures are being implemented in the region,” he said in a video posted online.
Gennadiy Trukhanov, the mayor of the city of Odessa, said it took 10 years to design and build the new runway, which officially opened last July.
“Thanks to the new runway, we expected a huge influx of tourists from all over the world. Instead, we got a missile attack,” he said on Facebook.
“But Odessa is not a city that yields to difficulties. We will definitely restore the slope after our victory and more tourists will come to us.”
There was no comment on the attack from Moscow, whose troops have sporadically attacked Odessa, Ukraine’s third largest city.
Eight people were killed in a Russian attack on the city last week, Ukrainian officials said.
Russia has turned its focus to southern and eastern Ukraine after failing to capture the capital Kyiv in a nine-week offensive that razed cities, killed thousands of civilians and forced more than five million to flee abroad.
Russia’s renewed attack in the south is aimed in part at connecting the area to Crimea as it seeks complete control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region. Parts of the two provinces of Donbass, Luhansk and Donetsk, were already controlled by Russian-backed separatists before the February 24 invasion of Moscow.
In his speech, Zelenskyy said that Russia was “assembling additional forces for new attacks on our military in the east of the country” and “trying to increase pressure in Donbass”.
It has been difficult to get a full picture of the unfolding battle in eastern Ukraine, as airstrikes and artillery shelling have made it extremely dangerous for reporters to move.
But Western military analysts indicated that the offensive there was proceeding much more slowly than planned.
So far, Russian troops and the separatists appear to have made little gains in the month since Moscow announced it would concentrate its military strength in the East. In terms of numbers, Russia’s military manpower far exceeds that of Ukraine. In the days leading up to the war, Western intelligence estimated that Russia had up to 190,000 troops stationed near the border; The standing military of Ukraine is about 200,000 spread across the country.
Partly because of the stubbornness of Ukrainian resistance, however, the United States believes the Russians are “at least a few days behind where they wanted to be” as they attempt to encircle Ukrainian troops in the east, a senior US defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the review.
With plenty of firepower still in reserve, Russia’s offensive could intensify and overrun the Ukrainians.
In total, the Russian army has an estimated 900,000 active personnel. Russia also has a much larger air force and navy.
The US and its European allies have provided Ukraine with billions of dollars worth of arms and humanitarian aid.
US President Joe Biden is targeting a $33 billion aid package for Kyiv, including $20 billion for arms, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday his country will “continue to give Ukrainians the equipment they need to defend themselves”.
Russia has repeatedly warned the West against continuing military aid to Kyiv, saying the arms shipments would “add fuel to the flames of war”.