Russo-Ukrainian War: Russia aiming for full control of Ukraine's southern territory

Airstrikes against Odesa's infrastructure proves President Vladimir Putin isn't serious about peace. Repeatedly, when referencing the invasion of Ukraine, Putin has spoken of a "special operation" to demilitarise the targeted country. A missile struck the city's infrastructure on Saturday, 23 April 2022.

"A missile struck infrastructure in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Saturday," Local authorities, in a statement put out online, said.

"Odesa. No words. 5 civilians are killed. 18 - wounded. There can be more. There is a three-month-old child among the killed," tweeted Mykhailo Fedorov . "It is definitely the genocide of our people by the russian occupiers.

Fedorov, Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister, is also the Minister of Digital Transformation. Meanwhile, elsewhere, Putin indulges himself in a religious orientated political theatre. Putin in church, after launching missiles against Odesa's civilian population, has a real nerve. The Russian president, alongside Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, is reported to have celebrated Orthodox Easter.

Odesa, a Ukrainian port city on the Black Sea, is situated in southern Ukraine. Approximately 993,120 Ukrainians, as revealed by the United Nations in 2017, called Odesa home. Odesa, founded in the late eighteenth century, is considered by many Ukrainians a national treasure.

The city, with unmistakeable 19th-century architecture, is home to the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theatre. Sergei Eisenstein, for his 1925 released Battleship Potemkin, utilised the Potemkin Stairs during filming the now classic silent drama. The Potemkin Stairs, considered monumental, lead down to the waterfront.

The Vorontsov Lighthouse can be found nearby. The original lighthouse, built in 1862, was made of wood. A second lighthouse, built in 1888, was an iron cast construction. It continued to sport the iconic red and white appearance of the original structure. The pictured lighthouse, currently in use, is the third retains the well-established colour aesthetics of the previous two builds.

A popular promenade, running parallel to the Black Sea, is the Primorsky Boulevard. The promenade is lined with magnificent mansions and monument which, if Putin continues his attacks on Ukraine, could soon only be found in history books.

Southern Ukraine, particularly with Russian forces occupying Kherson, has continued to see exactly how far Putin is willing to go. Russian Major General Rustam Minnekayev, on Friday, 22 April 2022, confirmed what many people have been theorising for weeks.

The goal, by seizing Southern Ukraine, is to create a land bridge connecting Crimea with Transnistria. Transnistria, not internationally recognised as a sovereign state, is also known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. The pro-Russian breakaway state, internationally recognised as part of Moldova, is situated on the borders Ukraine.

Minnekayev, on Friday, attended a military event in the Sverdlovsk region. Major General serves as deputy commander of Russia's central military district.

"Control over the south of Ukraine is another way out to Transnistria," Minnekayev said, "where there are also facts of oppression of the Russian-speaking population."

Putin, without corroborating evidence, has previously alleged Russian speaking Ukrainians have suffered significantly from unwarranted discrimination. The claims, remaining unsubstantiated, have not gone unaddressed. President Volodymyr Zelensky, responding to Minnekayev's comments, referenced the meritless claims in his regular overnight address.

"The Russian invasion of Ukraine was intended only as a beginning, then they want to capture other countries," Zelensky said. "If they ask you to fill out some questionnaires, leave your passport data somewhere, you should know this is not to help you. ... This is aimed to falsify the so-called referendum on your land if an order comes from Moscow to stage such a show. This is the reality. Be careful."

Ukrainian officials, on Friday, determined it unsafe for Mariupol residents to evacuate the city. Concerns regarding routes in and out of the port city, believed too dangerous for travel, are warranted.