At least two people were injured in a series of Russian strikes on the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, the chairman of the Odessa regional military administration, Oleg Kiper, announced on "Telegram" on Saturday evening, DPA reported, BTA reported.
Fires broke out in several places in Odessa, filling the city with thick clouds of smoke. The attacks hit private homes, a production facility and warehouses, Kiper specified. Yesterday, the Russian military carried out two strikes on a building materials store in Odessa.
Russia is increasingly striking Ukrainian cities with combat drones and ballistic missiles, while the situation on the front line remains essentially stalemated, DPA recalls.
Ukraine has also attacked Russian oil and defense industry facilities with drones.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he sees no signs that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is ready to end the war soon, DPA reported, BTA reports.
In his evening video address on Saturday, Zelensky said that “the Russians are not preparing to end the war – at least not at this moment“.
“Putin always has some pretext – to reject a meeting, not to hold a trilateral meeting, not to talk, not to put an end to these killings“, the Ukrainian head of state emphasized.
In this regard, nothing has changed for years, Zelensky added.
“He (Putin) is looking for pretexts to wage war. They always sound the same way, and our most recent meeting with the US president shows it“, the Ukrainian president also said.
According to him, the will must appear in Russia “to spend money not on death, but on something else, so that there is a desire to end the war“. Kiev is working on this issue together with its partners around the world, he added.
According to Zelensky, the US legislative package known as the “Lindsey Graham Act“, which was adopted earlier in September by the US Congress, should be implemented even more vigorously, among other mechanisms for pressure on Russia. The law allows the US president to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on goods from countries importing Russian energy.
Earlier on Saturday, the Ukrainian president reported civilian casualties and injuries in Ukraine after Russian air strikes and called on the US and the EU to impose tougher sanctions on Russia.