Russian attack destroys Odesa airport runway
- Russia has carried out missile attacks across southern and eastern Ukraine, including one that destroyed the runway at Odesa airport.
- A group of 20 civilians have left the Azovstal steelworks, where the last Ukrainian troops are holed up in Mariupol, according to the Azov regiment.
- A Russian reconnaissance plane briefly violated Sweden’s airspace, Swedish defence officials said.
- A Russian official told state media that the risks of nuclear war should be kept to a minimum amid conflict in Ukraine.
- Fourteen Ukrainians including a pregnant soldier have been freed in the latest prisoner exchange with Russian forces, Ukraine says, without revealing the number of Russians returned to Moscow.
Turkey presidential spokesman meets Zelenskyy in Kyiv
Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Saturday, his office said.
There were no immediate details about the content of Kalin’s meetings in Kyiv, but Ankara has been mediating between Ukraine and Russia in efforts to end the war.
Kalin was accompanied by Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal.
Turkey is trying to pave the way for an Istanbul summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy.
Russian military plane briefly violates Swedish airspace
A Russian reconnaissance plane briefly violated Sweden’s airspace, say Swedish defence officials, as the Scandinavian country ponders a bid for NATO membership after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.“A Russian AN-30 propeller plane violated Swedish airspace on Friday evening,” the Swedish defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday evening, adding that its teams had followed the incident and photographed it.
The ministry said the plane was flying east of Bornholm, a Danish island in the Baltic, before it headed towards Swedish territory.
“It is totally unacceptable to violate Swedish airspace,” public television SVT quoted Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist as saying.
20 civilians leave Mariupol’s Azovstal site: Ukraine regiment
A group of 20 civilians have left the Azovstal steelworks, where the last Ukrainian troops are holed up in the Black Sea port of Mariupol, according to the Azov regiment.
“Twenty civilians, women and children … have been transferred to a suitable place and we hope that they will be evacuated to Zaporizhzhia, on territory controlled by Ukraine,” said Sviatoslav Palamar, the Azov regiment’s deputy commander.
Earlier on Saturday, a correspondent from Russia’s TASS news agency reported from the city that 25 civilians – including six children younger than 14 – had left the site.
Russian rocket attack destroys Odesa runway
A Russian missile attack destroyed an airport runway in Odesa, Ukraine’s third-largest city and a key Black Sea port, the Ukrainian army said.
In a Telegram post, Ukraine’s Operational Command South said there was no way that the Odesa runway could be used as a result of the missile attack.
Local authorities urged residents of the area to shelter in place as Ukrainian news agency UNIAN, citing army sources, reported that “several” explosions were heard in Odesa.
Odesa’s regional governor said that the missile was fired from Russian-occupied Crimea. Maksym Marchenko said there were no reports of any injuries.
