Russian forces strike important Ukrainian Port City of Odesa in renewed assaults

Russia has resumed serious bombardment of Ukrainian cities as it launched new assaults on the country’s southwestern port city of Odesa on Monday just as the European Union prepared for a new round of sanctions on Russian oil.

Odesa’s City Council spokesman said the Russian strike hit a residential building in the city, killing a 15-year-old boy and seriously injured a girl, while regional governor Maksym Marchenko said a Russian missile also hit a strategically important bridge in the area.

The European Union is expected on Tuesday to propose a new package of sanctions on Russia, including limits to Russian oil with German officials indicating on Monday that the country could support a full EU embargo of Russian oil.

“We have managed to reach a situation where Germany is able to bear an oil embargo,” German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said.

Read also:UK condemns Russian troops for killing Ukrainian civilians while retreating

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address Monday that he expected “a new package from the European Union that should include clear steps to block Russia’s revenues from energy resources.”

Zelenskyy also said in a video message that more than 100 civilians were able to leave the besieged Mariupol city on Sunday, and that they were headed to Zaporizhzhia, about 200 kilometers away, although their progress was reported as slow.

With Russian troops taking control of the rest of Mariupol, hundreds of civilians and an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian troops have been holed up at the Azovstal iron and steel works. Multiple earlier attempts to evacuate civilians from the site fell apart, with Ukraine accusing Russia of shelling evacuation routes.

Video footage posted by Ukrainian forces showed elderly women and mothers with small children climbing over a steep pile of rubble near the mammoth plant and eventually boarding a bus.

Ukraine has previously accused Russia of taking Ukrainians against their will to Russia, a charge Moscow has denies.

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