Ukraine says all civilians, including women and children, evacuated from Mariupol steel mill

Moscow was aiming to complete its conquest of the besieged port city of Mariupol in time for Victory Day celebrations on May 9

Russian forces kept up their barrage of southern Ukraine, hitting the major Black Sea port of Odesa with cruise missiles and bombarding the steelworks up the coast in Mariupol, where Ukrainian fighters remained trapped underground.

Moscow was aiming to complete its conquest of Mariupol in time for Victory Day celebrations on May 9. But its forces continued to face dogged resistance from defenders within the bunkers beneath the factory. All Civilians have been evacuated.

In a sign of the unexpectedly effective defense that has sustained the fighting into its 11th week, Ukraine’s military struck Russian positions on a Black Sea island that was captured in the war’s first days and has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.

Western military analysts also said a Ukrainian counter-offensive was advancing around the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. Ukraine’s military said retreating Russian forces destroyed three bridges on a road northeast of the city to try to slow the Ukrainian advance.

The largest European conflict since World War II has developed into a punishing war of attrition that has killed thousands of people, forced millions to flee their homes and destroyed large swaths of some cities.

Ukrainian leaders warned that attacks would only worsen in the lead-up to Victory Day, when Russia celebrates Nazi Germany’s defeat in 1945 with military parades. Russian President Vladimir Putin is believed to want to proclaim some kind of triumph in Ukraine when he addresses the troops on Red Square on Monday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on May 7 that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his people “embody the spirit of those who prevailed during the Second World War.” He accused Mr. Putin of trying “to twist history to attempt to justify his unprovoked and brutal war against Ukraine.”