Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

The attacks on the Mariupol Metallurgical Plant have resumed, a Ukrainian official was quoted as saying by BTA.

Civilians were evacuated yesterday, but hundreds remain trapped in the besieged Azovstal.

The metallurgical complex in the port city has been bombed for weeks by Russian forces. A fire in the factory was reported after the renewed strikes.

A 14-year-old boy was killed and another 17-year-old girl was injured in a rocket attack in Odessa, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. The children were in a building that was damaged in the collision and there were five people in it.

The United States has accused Russia of wanting to annex two pro-Russian territories in eastern Ukraine, AFP reported.

US Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Michael Carpenter says Washington has new and very reliable information that Russia intends to hold referendums in mid-May to try to annex pro-Russian separatist Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. .

He added that Moscow was considering a similar plan for Kherson. It is the only important Ukrainian city over which the Russians have taken full control since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine.

Carpenter said these would be similar to referendums, fabricated votes that would not be seen as legitimate, and any attempt to annex other Ukrainian territories. "We need to act urgently," he added.

Kyiv also claims that Russia wants to organize independence referendums in the Kherson region, as well as in the neighboring Zaporizhzhia region.

Meanwhile, a senior Pentagon official said that the Chief of General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov was at the front in Donbas in eastern Ukraine last week, AFP reported. However, he could not confirm rumors that Gerasimov had been injured.

The spokesman said Gerasimov had been in Donbas for several days last week. "We do not think he is still there. We think he has left and returned to Russia. We cannot confirm the information that he was injured," the spokesman said.

Adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko said yesterday that many Russian officers were affected by the explosion in Izyum, in eastern Ukraine, and added that Gerasimov was there.

The Pentagon spokesman said Russian forces had limited progress in their battle with the Ukrainians in Donbas and described the progress as anemic. According to him, the Russians, for example, took control of the villages and then lost it. The Russian military was demoralized and suffered from chaotic command.

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