Russia Pounds Odesa As 44 Civilian Bodies Uncovered Elsewhere In Ukraine

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — Russia pounded away at Ukraine’s vital southern port of Odesa, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday, they announced they found the bodies of 44 civilians in the rubble of a building in the northeast that was destroyed weeks ago.Meanwhile, a Ukrainian official said that at least 100 civilians remain trapped at a steel mill in the besieged city of Mariupol, where Ukrainian fighters are making a last stand.The 44 bodies were found in a five-story building that collapsed in March in Izyum, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the city of Kharkiv, which has been under sustained Russian attack since the beginning of the war in late February.“This is another horrible war crime of the Russian occupiers against the civilian population!” said Oleh Synehubov, the head of the regional administration, in a social media message announcing the deaths.Izyum lies on a key route to the eastern industrial region of the Donbas, now the focus of Russia’s war in Ukraine. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared in his own Victory Day address that his country would eventually defeat the Russians.“Very soon there will be two Victory Days in Ukraine,” he said in a video. Each unit has roughly 1,000 troops, according to the Pentagon.The official said that overall, the Russian effort in the Donbas hasn’t achieved any significant progress in recent days and continues to face stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces.Satellite photos showed intense fires in Russian-held territory in southern Ukraine on Monday.