Russia staged blistering strikes across Ukraine last night just hours after Kyiv signalled it was ready for a ceasefire.
The massive missile and drone attacks cast doubt on Vladimir Putin‘s willingness to accept Donald Trump‘s demands for peace in the three year war.
Meanwhile Ukrainian troops were on the retreat in the area of Russia’s Kursk region – around Sudzha – which they had held since August.
Footage appears to show Putin’s troops triumphantly in the town’s main square.
In fierce overnight bombardment, a Russian double missile strike which hit Kryvyi Rih – the city where Volodmyr Zelensky was born – led to a woman, 47, in a trolleybus being killed. Smoke was seen rising from the site of the strike.
In Odesa, Vladimir Putin’s forces hit and damaged a Barbados-flagged 587ft-long dry cargo ship carrying grain bound for Africa, killing four, with several injured.
In a strike on Dnipro, the Kremlin dictator’s forces hit ten private houses, blasting out windows in a school and kindergarten, after which one man was hospitalised.
Russia unleashed Iranian-designed Shahed drones on Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv, while footage showed a blazing fire at a warehouse in Sumy after a Russian strike.
Russia escalates overnight attacks on Ukraine, killing and wounding crew and port workers in Odesa grain ship strike, destroying homes in Dnipro, Kharkiv, Sumy and hitting Krivyi Rih
Firefighters work at the scene of a Russian strike in Ukraine after Putin intensified his bombardment of the country overnight
A fire erupts in a building in Odesa after a Russian strike last night
Explosions are seen in the sky over Kyiv during a Russian drone strike last night
The strike on the Greek-managed MJ Pinar cargo vessel in Odesa appeared designed to hit both Ukraine’s exports of grain and desperately-needed supplies via Algeria to Africa.
The vessel was loading 30,000 tons of wheat when the strike hit, igniting a fire on the ship.
Among the dead sailors were three Syrians and one Ukrainian, with a fifth crew member and a port employee injured.
One missile is reported to have struck the seawall causing extensive damage to the pier, the terminal’s grain store, and other infrastructure.
Russia also continued to press home its advantage in its Kursk region, where massive assault operations were underway around border town Sudzha which was under intense fire.
Unconfirmed Moscow reports this morning highlighted footage appearing to show Putin’s paratroopers raising the white, blue and red tricolour in the central square of Sudzha, the main town that had been in Ukrainian control in the Russian region.
‘Our fighters, having cleared the square, marked another success of the assault operation, waved to the camera, and then returned to carrying out combat missions,’ reported pro-Kremlin Readovka media outlet.
Another loyalist outlet Mash reported: ‘Our fighters with flags on Sovetskaya Square Sudzha, near the administration building in the town centre.
‘The [Ukrainian] soldiers have almost completely abandoned it, retreating towards Sumy Oblast.
‘According to our data, the city has been cleared by 80-90%.
‘The Ukrainian Armed Forces have only [kept their hold on] the suburbs of Goncharovka and Zaoleshenka.’
If true, the development is a severe blow to Kyiv but not unexpected.
Yet Russian Telegram source Archangel Spetsnaz also stated: ‘The enemy is still fighting back, the flags were for designation.’
Thousands of Ukrainian troops had been reported as being encircled by Russian and North Korean forces.
Today reports stated that many had successfully retreated to Ukraine’s Sumy region.
The troops carrying the Russian flag were paratroopers of the 11th Guards Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, it was reported.
Military analyst Yan Matveyev stated: ‘It looks like the Ukrainian Armed Forces have completely left the city.
‘This means that today they will finally leave the Kursk region.’
