Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Missiles strike Odessa; Biden signs bill to expedite military aid

Flames and rubble: The aftermath of missile strikes on OdessaOver 100 civilians, 1,000 fighters left at Mariupol plant, officials sayUkrainian official says Putin won’t use nuclear arms or attack NATO 44 bodies pulled from rubble in Izyum, Ukrainian official saysBlinken, Austin urge Congress to pass Ukraine spending bill by May 19Russian hypersonic missiles hit Odessa, Ukrainian officials sayPentagon: Equivalent of two Russian battalion tactical groups still in MariupolPutin ‘perverting history’ to justify Ukraine war, White House saysPulitzer board honors journalists of UkrainePutin used Victory Day to defend war on Ukraine as fight against ‘Nazis’E.U. leader travels to Hungary, but fails to persuade Orban to back Russian oil embargoBiden ‘displeased’ by leaks about U.S. intel aid to Kyiv, Psaki saysOn an unexpectedly subdued Victory Day, Ukrainians see cause for hope Updates from key cities: Putin coy on declaring ‘war’ but continues assault on Ukraine’s south, eastBiden signs Ukraine lend-lease act into law, expediting military aidFlames and rubble: The aftermath of missile strikes on OdessaOver 100 civilians, 1,000 fighters left at Mariupol plant, officials sayUkrainian official says Putin won’t use nuclear arms or attack NATO 44 bodies pulled from rubble in Izyum, Ukrainian official saysBlinken, Austin urge Congress to pass Ukraine spending bill by May 19Russian hypersonic missiles hit Odessa, Ukrainian officials sayPentagon: Equivalent of two Russian battalion tactical groups still in MariupolPutin ‘perverting history’ to justify Ukraine war, White House saysPulitzer board honors journalists of UkrainePutin used Victory Day to defend war on Ukraine as fight against ‘Nazis’E.U. leader travels to Hungary, but fails to persuade Orban to back Russian oil embargoBiden ‘displeased’ by leaks about U.S. intel aid to Kyiv, Psaki saysOn an unexpectedly subdued Victory Day, Ukrainians see cause for hope Updates from key cities: Putin coy on declaring ‘war’ but continues assault on Ukraine’s south, eastBiden signs Ukraine lend-lease act into law, expediting military aidRussia 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. Meanwhile, a regional official in Kharkiv said 44 bodies were pulled from the rubble of a building in Izyum that Russia destroyed in March.Biden signed a historic bill into law Monday that will expedite the process of sending military aid to Kyiv and urged Congress to approve a separate multibillion-dollar package — hours after Putin, speaking from Moscow’s Red Square to mark Victory Day, defended the invasion but did not formally declare war on Kyiv or commit new resources to the battlefield, as some Ukrainian officials had feared. The attacks continued into Monday night, with seven Russian missiles striking a shopping mall and a warehouse, and three hypersonic missiles hitting “tourism infrastructure,” the Ukrainian regional military administration said.Photos showed firefighters combing through debris, rescuing animals and searching for civilians who may be trapped under the wreckage.Despite a lengthy process of evacuation, more than 100 civilians remain at the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, local Ukrainian officials said this week.Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to the Mariupol mayor, wrote Tuesday on Telegram that Russian forces continue to bombard the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works complex despite the presence of “at least” 100 civilians there. “Aviation and artillery are working almost constantly.”An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he does not expect Russia to expand its war beyond Ukraine or escalate the conflict by launching nuclear weapons, pointing to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech Monday commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.In an interview late Monday with the Associated Press, Oleksiy Arestovych noted that Putin said Moscow would honor the memory of those who fought in the Second World War by doing “everything so that the horror of a global war does not happen again.” That means Putin will not pursue nuclear war or attack NATO, Arestovych said.Instead, the Ukrainian official said, Putin will probably aim to fight a war of attrition with Ukraine and force Kyiv to concede the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine and Kherson in the south. That would give Moscow a land bridge into the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.In his 10-minute speech Monday, Putin sought to justify his contentious war against Ukraine, again falsely referring to the Ukrainians as “Nazis” and insisting without evidence that Kyiv was planning to build nuclear weapons.A Ukrainian official said Tuesday that 44 bodies have been pulled from the rubble of a building in Izyum, a strategically important town that has been at the center of Russia’s military advance in the eastern Donbas region.Oleh Synehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region that includes Izyum, said the bodies were found under the debris of a five-story building that was destroyed by Russian forces in the first week of March.“This is another horrible war crime of the Russian occupiers against the civilian population!” Synehubov wrote in a post on Telegram.In an interview with Ukrainian public broadcaster UA: Pershyi that aired Tuesday, Synehubov said that more buildings are in a similar state in Izyum but that progress in searching them is slow because of continued shelling. About 700 to 900 troops are in one such group.The Pentagon assessed last month that almost a dozen Russian battalion tactical groups would be free to be used elsewhere in Ukraine should Mariupol come under Russian control.The last Ukrainian fighters at the Azovstal steel plant in the city — most of which has been under Russian control since April — vowed on Sunday to hold out until the very end.White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday sharply criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Victory Day parade, saying he used it to try to pervert history and that Russian forces “commit war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine as they engage in a brutal war that is causing so much suffering and needless destruction.”In his Victory Day remarks, Putin falsely called Ukrainians “Nazis” and claimed without evidence that Kyiv was planning to build nuclear weapons.“This day is supposed to be about celebrating peace and unity in Europe and the defeat of Nazis in World War II,” Psaki said.